A Trip Across Time And Space
by InuyashaLuver1224
Summary: A Crossover Of Fullmetal Alchemist And Inuyasha. When The Complex Characters From The Mind Of Arakawa Meet The Simple, But Intriguing Characters From The Mind Of Takahashi, Villains Included, What Events Will Follow? Same Pairings That The Shows Suggest.
1. A Not So Good First Impression

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter One

A not so good first impression

What happens when Ed and Al wind up in Feudal Japan? What relationships form and which ones change?

"Where are we, Brother?"

"I don't know, Al." Ed said looking around

"Brother! There's a group of people over there!" Al said pointing to 4 people and 2 animal-ish looking things.

"Hey! Do you know where we are?" Ed yelled at the Group

"Who the _hell_ do you think you're talking to?" yelled the tallest man with long white hair

"Inuyasha! Sit Boy!" With that, the white haired boy went face first into the ground.

"Kagome! What the **_hell_** was that for!" Inuyasha yelled at her

"Inuyasha, calm down. You're causing a scene, most people already think we're crazy, and you're not helping" said the monk

"Miroku and Kagome are right, Inuyasha. You have to be calmer when we meet new people" Said a woman in black and pink armor.

"Hi, I'm Kagome! What's you're name?"

When all of this was going on, Ed's mouth was almost touching the ground and Al just kept looking at his brother. _And I thought Ed was angry._ Ed was thing the same thing, but that quickly changed when Inuyasha said something terrible.

"Hey, Shorty! Kagome's talking to you!"

"Did you just call me short?" Exploded Ed, when that was said, Al immediately held his brother back.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you, and what about your tin can!"

"Tin can?" Al said quietly.

"Hey, he's not a tin can! He's my little bother!"

"He doesn't look too little to me, especially when compared to you, midget!" retorted Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha! Sit Boy! Sit, Sit, Sit!" Yelled Kagome, while with every "sit" Inuyasha's face went deeper into the ground.

"Don't mind him, he's just a **JERK**" Inuyasha tried to stand but was interrupted with a "Sit boy! This is Miroku, Sango, Kilala, and Shippo."

"Damn wench, Damn necklace, Damn people" Yelled Inuyasha, but no one heard him, he was too muffled but the dirt.

"This is Edward, and I'm Alphonse, But you can call me Al and him Ed" Said Al politely.

"Can you please tell me where we are?" asked Ed looking around.

"Oh, we're in feudal Japan." Said Kagome shrugging her shoulders.

"Why are you just saying that like it's nothing!" said Ed with his jaw inches from the ground.

"Well, I come her willingly, but only Inuyasha and I can go to the present, but you can try if you like." Suggested Kagome.

"Inuyasha? Are you okay? You haven't said anything for like, 5 minutes." said Shippo with concern.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING…A CHAMERA!" yelled Ed.

"What's a chimera?" said the Inu-gang in unison.

"A Chimera is a creature created though alchemy, it's like a homunculus." Replied Al intelligently.

"Okay, freeze. What's alchemy and what is a homunculus?" Said Inuyasha, finally standing up.

"Alchemy is a science, it's the study of equivalent exchange…and a homunculus is a false human created through alchemy, and apparently since you don't know what alchemy is, there are no homunculi here." Said Ed beaming, the thought of no homunculi made him ecstatic.

But little did they know, Ed and Al weren't the only ones who arrived there uninvited.

"Well, this is odd." Said Lust looking around.

"Is there anything here to eat?" asked Gluttony, completely unaffected by the time travel.

"You need to think about something other that food for once in your life." Replied Envy rolling her eyes.

"Ah, it looks like the Full Metal pipsqueak is here as well." Said Lust with glee.

"And whom may I ask are you?" the menacing voice made them all turn around

"Depends on who's asking." Snapped Envy.

"I am the demon Naraku, now who are you?"

"We the homunculi Envy, Gluttony and Lust" replied Lust.

"Since it seems you are already plotting to kill, or at least attack the short blond boy and the armored one as well, would you mind taking care of some people for me, too?"

"Who?" asked Lust.

"The one's they're talking to."


	2. Ed and Al's Stories, and an

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter Two

Ed and Al's story, and an unexpected visitor

"They sun is setting, we should set up camp" suggested Kagome

"Alright, since these weirdoes have thrown us off schedule anyways" agreed Inuyasha.

"You're calling us weird, you're the one with the ears!" Snapped Ed

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY ABOUT ME?" Flared Inuyasha

"Brother! Stop it, calm down!" said Al pushing his brother.

"Inuyasha, SIT!" Kagome yelled as Inuyasha crashed towards the ground.

With camp set up, they all started to talk, much calmer that before.

"So, why do you have metal limbs, and why are you wearing armor, do you not trust us?" asked Kagome blushing

"I wouldn't" mumbled Miroku

"Well, it all started when we were really little, we only had a mom because our dad left when we were _really_ young…"Started Ed

"..She got really sick and ended up dieing. We were little kids, and we knew we couldn't live without her…"

"..So, Al and I tried to get her back by getting all the elements present in a human body and tried to bring her back with alchemy. Al lost his body and I lost my left leg…"

"…then Ed sacrificed his right arm to seal my soul to this suit of armor…"

"…Al woke up in the suit and took me to our friends' house, they're automail mechanics, so they gave me a new leg and arm made of metal."

"Wow" replied the Inu group in unison.

"Your mom died when you were little kids, that's soo terrible." Said Kagome teary eyed.

"Now we're looking for the Philosopher's stone so we can get back to normal." Commented Al.

"Well, we were, but it wasn't going to well, Damn homunculi. They kept making it seem like the only way we could get it, was if I killed a group of people and combined their souls with Red Water." Replied Ed looking at the ground.

"Well, at least the Homunculi aren't here brother!" piped Al cheerfully.

"Shows what you know." Retaliated a voice from the bushes as a large black nail came through brush and stabbed through Ed's shoulder.

"BROTHER!"

"What the hell?" said Inuyasha as he was drawing the Tetsusaiga.

"Stupid state puppy, Hey Gluttony, are you hungry?" said Lust with a wicked smile.

"Fat boy's always hungry" smiled Envy "He'd eat until he exploded if there was enough food in the world."

"Who the hell are _YOU_ people?" Exclaimed Inuyasha

"We are the lovely homunculi that the Full Metal pipsqueak was talking about."

"Well, he seems like a good enough guy and I don't like the smell of you, you have a hint of Naraku on you, So, Prepare to die!" yelled Inuyasha as he lept through the air, sword ready.

"Naraku? Oh, you mean this man" replied Envy as she turned into him

"Oh, yes he told us to kill you." She said as she was still in his form.

"Where did you meet with him! That Bastard Naraku, I'm going to kill him, but first, I'll take care of you!" Inuyasha lept, swung his sword, missed, and was met with a nail going through his chest.

"Inuyasha!" exclaimed Kagome, then readily laced and shot her bow hitting Lust in the arm.

"Little Bitch, you should learn to mind your own busi-"

She was interrupted be Inuyasha, who sliced her leg.

"Let's leave!" and with that they all disappeared, Leaving Ed bleeding and Inuyasha sore and out of breath.

"Brother? Are you okay?" said Al in a shaky voice

"Dumb Bitch" mumbled Ed.

"Inuyasha, are you okay?" Said Kagome getting her medic bag.

"Who the hell was that bitch?" said Inuyasha turning towards Ed

"That bitch was one of the three homunculi that are after Al and I." huffed Ed as he strained to sit up.

"Why is she after you?"

"As I said before, they are the ones who are trying to get me to sacrifice the people to make the Philosopher's stone for them." reiterated Ed, for the **2nd **time.

"Oh, is the philosopher's stone like the Shikon Jewel?" asked Inuyasha, showing some interest.

"Could we use it to defeat Naraku?" Miroku piped up.

"Who is Naraku?" Said Al looking very confused.


	3. Bonding, The Inu Gang's Stories

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter Three

Bonding, the Inu gang's stories

"This is a very long story," Started Kagome "He's a half demon that was born from an injured bandit and hordes of demons fifty years ago. He's done something bad to all of us."

"He cursed my grandfather with a hell hole in his right hand," said Miroku, showing them his cursed hand "and this trait will return in every male child until Naraku is destroyed, and unless Naraku is destroyed in my lifetime, this wind tunnel will be the reason of my death."

"I am from a village of demon slayers, Naraku called the top slayers of my village to a castle, those people were my father, my brother, two of my family friends, and myself. When we were called away, the village was attacked and decimated by alliances of Naraku's. While that was happening, he possessed my brother and made him kill my father and two friends, then he allowed him to return to normal , only to be killed by the castle's guards. Then, he brought him back to life and wiped his memory clean. He uses him as a servant and a toy to try to get me to do his evil bidding." Explained Sango, while her eyes began to tear. Miroku lend a supportive hug.

"And what about you, what did he do to you?" Ed asked as he turned towards Inuyasha.

"He took my form and injured my first love, but left her with just enough life to seal me to a tree for fifty years before she died." Replied Inuyasha "but she was brought back to life by a witch and now he uses her as a toy as well, but unlike Kohaku, Sango's brother, she knows all she did the day she dies, but she thinks I betrayed her."

"And you, Miss Kagome, what did he do to you?" Asked Al

"Well, nothing really. It's my job to gather the shards of the jewel, that only broke because I hit it with a sacred arrow." Replied Kagome looking at the ground "but, the only reason he can't really mess with me and my family because I'm not from this century, and because most of his spells and traps do not work on me." Kagome added brightly.

"Luck you" Inuyasha added sarcastically.

"Really? Lucky Me…Hmm……"Kagome seemed to be thinking, Inuyasha started to regret what he had just said "SIT." Yelled Kagome.

"Why does he do that every time she says "sit"?" Said Ed through his giggles, watching Inuyasha.

"He has no choice, that purple necklace he wears has a charm in it, so that every time Kagome says "sit", he is completely subdued and falls face first into the ground." Explained Shippo, "it's also rather funny to watch." He added with a giggle.

"Ah, and here we were thinking that we had problems." Ed said as her turned towards Al.

"So, you said you're a "State Alchemist", you never told us about your studies." Said Kagome

"Why tell you when I can show you?" Chirped Ed brightly, and with that he turned a rock into a mini statue of Shippo and then gave it to him to play with.

"Oh this is cool." Chimed Shippo.

"Do you have anything that needs fixing? Brother and I can fix it for you." Offered Al.

And with that said, everyone (save for Inuyasha) had something that needed fixing. Shippo had his top, Sango had a piece of her armor, Miroku had a crack in his staff, and Kagome had a necklace. Unlike his brother though, Al had to draw a transmutation circle where Ed only had to clap his hands and touch the object, or touch the earth around it.

"That seems like a pretty good skill to have." Replied Miroku

"Yes, well, it's pretty useful in battle as well." added Ed, and with that he transmuted his right hand into a blade.

"Amazing." Sango awed.

"Do that again!" piped Shippo.

"Here." replied Al as he handed Shippo a dog figurine.

"I'll call this _cute_ little puppy…" Shippo started.

"Say it and I'll kill you fox." Rebottled Inuyasha angrily.

"…Inuyasha!" Shippo declared.

And with that Inuyasha flew at Shippo and chased him into the woods, they passed by the camps about every five minutes

"Why did Inuyasha get mad about that?" Al asked, densely.

"Because he's a half demon." Miroku replied

"I know that, you already told us that." Al whined

"Well, you see, he's half dog demon and half human." Kagome explained.

"Oh" Al replied, mentally blushing.

"I'LL KILL YOU FOX… SLOW DOWN…!" yelled Inuyasha from the bushes "HOLD STILL!"

"AAAAAHHHH" Shippo screamed.

"Inuyasha, SIT BOY!" Kagome piped

"KYAAAA", thump, was all that was heard from the woods as Shippo hopped out happily.

"Thanks, Kagome, but do you think you could have done that sooner?" asked Shippo through his panting.

"Some one's coming!" Said Inuyasha with his head popping out from the bushes. "Smells like….wolf!"


	4. Koga of the wolf demon tribe

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter Four

Koga of the wolf demon tribe

A tornado came out of nowhere and landed right next to Kagome.

"Hello, my sweet, Kagome!" Koga said brightly, he was on one knee.

"STOP CALLER HER YOURS!" Burst Inuyasha, as he flew to Kagome, picked her up, and jumped about 4 feet away from Koga.

"Who is this guy?" whispered Al to Shippo.

"He's Koga, leader of the wolf-demon tribe. He is in love with Kagome, so Inuyasha, being in love with her, too, hates him. He also hates him because he kidnapped Kagome and claimed her as his mate"

Inuyasha, Kagome, and Koga were blushing hysterically by the time Shippo was threw saying this.

"Look, mutt. Kagome is mine. And there is nothing you can do about it." Spat Koga, sticking his tongue out at Inuyasha.

"I'LL RIP THAT DAMN THING OUT OF YOUR MOUTH, SCRAWNY WOLF! ...Besides, Kagome should be able to choose who her 'mate' is_ and _who it is she is going to travel with." Replied Inuyasha. '_Take that Koga, you son of a bitch! Kagome is totally mine!'_ Inuyasha sang to himself.

"Inuyasha is right, Koga. Lady Kagome should be able to choose who she likes." Added Miroku.

"AWWW!" Sango loved it when Miroku was soo mature (of course, she loves him…most of the time anyway).

"WHO EVER INCLUDED YOU IN THIS CONVERSATION, MONK!" Spat Koga.

"Hey! That was rude, and besides he's right." with that Ed was transmuting his hand into a blade.

"Stay out of this, midget! You're so short, you gotta' be the kitsune's age!" replied Koga mockingly

"WHO YOU CALLING SHORT, YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'LL KICK YOUR ASS SO HARD YOU'LL HAVE TO BARF TO SHIT!" The thing Edward Elric hated the most was being called short.

"Brother! Calm down, your hand's still a blade."

"THAT'S WHAT I'M GONNA' KILL HIM WITH!"

"Wow, the toddler's got an attitude!" Koga joked

"SHUT THE HELL UP! AL LET ME GO! I KILL YOU TOO IF I HAVE TO!"

"You lie, Ed, you always lose our fights, and besides, you'd be lost with out me!"

"I know." Smiled Ed, finally calm

"What's with the tin can?" added Koga, very surprised

"Tin can?" Al was hurt whenever people mocked the predicament he was stuck in.

"YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE! IT'S NOT HIS FAULT HE'S LIKE THAT," yelled Ed, "it's mine." He added quietly.

"Brother, don't talk like that!"

"Whatever, Koga go!" Kagome was sick of this, '_look at what he's done by just being here for five minutes!'_

"Fine," Koga would always listen to Kagome, "But I'll be back for you later, my love!" And with that, the tornado left, leaving everyone with a confused look on their face.


	5. Relationships

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter Five

Relationships

Shippo decided to say it, since no one else would. "Well… That was weird!"

"You think so!" Inuyasha replied sarcastically, jumping up to the top of a tree to think. '_I wonder who Kagome would have chosen.'_ Inuyasha thought to himself.

"Kagome, who would you've chosen?" asked Shippo from the ground, Inuyasha almost fell out of the tree when he did '_that fox is such an idiot, but I'll have to kill him later, or it'll be too obvious that I was listening.'_ Inuyasha was screaming in his head.

"Um….I'll tell you when Inuyasha isn't around. And Inuyasha!"

"Yeah?"

"SIT!"

"What was that for!"

"You were eavesdropping!"

"What proof do you have?"

"Your ears moved and turned pink when Shippo asked…" She couldn't finish her sentence.

"Liar!" lied Inuyasha. _'Damn her for being soo observant! I'll just beat it out of Shippo later'_ Inuyasha reassured himself.

"What are the relationships here?" asked Ed

"Well, there's Inuyasha and Kagome, Kagome and Koga, Inuyasha and Kikyo, and Sango and Miroku." Chirped Shippo brightly, by the end of the explanation, everyone, save for Ed, Al, and Shippo, were red-faced.

"Who is Kikyo?" Al asked.

"Shippo, you tell him and I'll kill you while you're sleeping." Inuyasha replied as he walked over to Shippo, glaring.

"Inuyasha…."Kagome started as Shippo jumped out of the way.

"Shit!"

"SIT!"

"Fox, I'll talk to you later, so don't go too far away." Warned Inuyasha.

"So, who is Kikyo?" Al asked, now the three were out of even his range of hearing.

"Well, fifty years ago, when Inuyasha just learned of the jewel's existence, it was protected by a priestess, Kikyo. The bandit that Naraku was, was under the care of Kikyo. But when his greed over came him, he beckoned hordes of demons, which took over his body. Naraku has the power to take certain forms, so he took the form of Inuyasha, fatally injured Kikyo, leaving her with just enough life to seal Inuyasha to a tree for fifty years. And when Inuyasha woke up again, he found Kagome. They found out that Kagome is Kikyo's reincarnation. But, when a mountain hag stole Kikyo's remains and kidnapped Kagome, she stole part of Kagome's soul and put them into Kikyo." When Shippo finished, he just got blank looks from Ed and Al.

"Well, that certainly is complicated." Commented Ed.

"That's what I call dramatic." Added Al.

"Ye-up." Agreed Shippo.


	6. Winry

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter Six

Winry

As they were walking back, Al remembered something.

"Oh, God! Ed! Winry!" Exclaimed Al.

"Oh, shit! I forgot all about her!" said Ed slapping himself in the head.

"What is the military going to tell her when they can't find us?"

"What are they going to tell Mustang! He's going to kill me!"

As they met the group, Kagome walked up to them. "Where were you guys? And what's wrong?"

"Winry and Mustang are going to kill me!" Ed exclaimed.

"Who are Winry and Mustang?"

"Well, Winry is Ed's _girlfriend_ and…." Ed interrupter him.

"SHE IS NOT!"

"Is too!"

"NO!"

"Yeah!"

"Liar!"

"I'm not lying." Al reassured them.

"You are to, so shut up Al!" Ed was fuming.

"Anyways, who is she and who is Mustang?" Kagome reiterated

Ed took the chance to talk now "Winry is our friend from our hometown, Resembool, and Mustang is the colonel of the military I serve under." Ed was proud of his descriptions, especially because it didn't classify Winry with the words; love, girlfriend, lover, hottie, ect. And it didn't classify Mustang with the words; asshole, jackass, annoyance, I want to kill him, dumbass, ect.

"So, she is his girlfriend, then." Added Kagome brightly, Al giggled madly as Ed started spazzing.

"SHE'S NOT MY FICKING GIRLFRIEND! BUT I DO LOV…." He had said too much_ 'damn it'_.

"What was that Ed did you just say that you loved her?" asked Al sarcastically.

"SHUT UP!"

"AWW, Eddie has a girlfriend!" Al exclaimed with glee.

"Really?" Shippo asked and started hopping around singing with Al's same glee "Eddie has a girlfriend, Eddie has a girlfriend!"

"SHUT UP, FOX, I'LL KILL YOU! AL YOU'RE NEXT AFTER I'M DONE WITH THIS FURBALL!" Shouted Ed as he chased after Shippo, who was still singing.

"Brother! Don't hurt him!"

"DOES KILLING CLASSIFY AS HURTING!" Ed asked sarcastically.

"Yes!" Al answered dumbly. "I kinda' wish Ed had rosary like Inuyasha's."

"Don't ever wish that!" Inuyasha declared from across camp, "I would only wish this damn thing on a few people." He found himself telling Koga to sit and imagining him going face first into the ground. He burst out laughing, causing everyone to stare at him skeptically.

"Is he going to be okay?" Al asked

"I highly doubt it." Replied Miroku, who had been flirting with Sango for hours, and it seemed to be working.

"SHUT UP, Monk!" spat Inuyasha from across camp.

"What? I didn't say anything!" replied Miroku curiously, making Sango giggle madly

Shippo, then, dove behind Miroku, causing Ed to take Miroku out and fall into a pail of water.

"Now look what you made me do, you stupid fox!" Exclaimed Ed as he lunged for Shippo, falling over into the dirt, causing it to stick to him.

"And now I'm covered in mud!"

"Will you kindly get off me!" Miroku, who was under Ed and Shippo, was tired of waiting, and grabbed Shippo by the tail, and Ed by the collar, and stood up angrily.

"LET GO OF ME SO I CAN KILL THAT FOX!"

"Not until you calm down!"

"Thank you. Miroku is right, Brother. You gotta calm down!"

"I love you, Miroku!" Shippo was weeping while he was hanging upside down by his tail.

"I'll only calm down if this damn lecher lets me down and you all will let me go for a walk without following." Ed replied flatly

"I am a man of the cloth!" Miroku was completely offended by Ed's comment.

"Why do you want to go alone?" Al's voice was completely full of concern.

"Yeah and you're a lecher, too! How many 'men of the cloth' do you know that are lechers?"

"Well, there's Mushin **(A/N; Miroku's foster father)**, my father was, and according to him, so was my grandfather." Miroku replied with a smirk.

"Brother?" Al was still being ignored, intentionally.

"Man! The monks here are tainted! Where we are from…though there aren't many monks…they can't get within a foot of the member of the opposite sex without blushing madly!" Ed said rolling his eyes.

"**Brother!** You will not ignore me! Now that we know the homunculi are here, you have to be more careful! Now that the Colonel and Major Armstrong aren't here to protect you!"

"I DON'T NEED TO BE PROTECTED! I'M NOT A LITTLE KID!"

"You may not think so, but we're not adults either! And sometimes, you do need to be protected! How many times have the major, the colonel, and I saved you?"

"And how many times have I saved you?"

"Sacrifice doesn't count as saving!"

"AND WHAT DOES IT COUNT AS!"

"Not what you think it does, you for me? That's not equivalent exchange!"

"Why isn't it?" Ed was thrown off by his last statement. It completely confused him.

"I don't have flesh; you are fully capable of going anywhere unnoticed, fitting in, while all eyes are on me when we travel… How many times have you seen a 6 foot tall set of armor just walking around…other than in Lab 5? No, I'll answer that for you, never! I can't fit in anywhere!" Al started to walk away, leaving Miroku and Shippo stunned, but Ed broke free of the distracted Monk's grasp.

"You fit in fine with me!" Ed revealed his automail arm, "I'm metal, too! Without this overcoat and these gloves, I wouldn't fit in either. You're my little brother, and you'll never be an outcast with me around, okay! And besides, when we get the Philosopher's stone, you'll be an average little boy again!"

"You'll be the first 'average little boy', brother! Stress on the _Little_!" Al bolted from the scene.

"Get back here, you weird-ass metal outcast!" Ed teased.

"Never, you pintsized freak!"

"WHAT THE HELL, QUIT IT WITH THE SHORT JOKES, DAMNIT!"


	7. Confusion

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter Seven

Confusion

As Ed and Al ran off teasing eachother, Miroku and Shippo stood there, confused.

"Why do they play by saying things that upsets the other?"

"I have no idea; you and Inuyasha fight like that though. I think it's a _brother_ thing."

"Do you think Inuyasha thinks of me as a brother?" Shippo didn't have a brother, he had always wanted one though, and he had thought of Inuyasha as a brother, but he didn't think Inuyasha thought of him that way.

"I definitely do, he jokes with you, he protects you, he doesn't kill you when you embarrass or anger him, and let's you hangout with Kagome. You don't see him letting me _that_ close to her." Answered Miroku, like an idiot.

"That's because you're a lecher!"

"Oh, and he won't want me spoiling his chances with Kagome, besides, he's probably afraid that I'll go farther with her than he will, or isn't too afraid to." He didn't notice that Inuyasha was right behind him. Inuyasha punched him so hard, that when he woke up he was unaware of what had happened; that Inuyasha was behind him, why he had the bumps on his head, and he was completely unaware of why Inuyasha kept glaring at him, but he did notice that every time he smiled and waved innocently that Shippo would laugh hysterically.

Back with Ed and Al, Ed had his eyes completely fixated on the slow moving water of the large creek, he didn't even look up when Al started to ask him questions.

"Why did you want to go for a walk alone?"

"I don't know, probably just to think."

"Can't you think when I'm around?"

"It's not that. I was going to think out loud."

"And say what?"

"…Nothing"

"Liar."

"I know."

"You …wait... What! Did you just say what I think you said?"

"Probably, what of it?"

"Well, nothing. Wait, were you going to talk about Winry?"

"Yeah."

"And say what?"

"You know... Things."

"What type of things, Brother?"

"…"

"Brother! I won't know unless you tell me!"

_**Back at Central… Mustang's Office**_

"What do you mean you_ still_ can't find the Elrics?" Mustang yelled while standing up, knocking papers off his desk. "I want them found. So, you still have no word on the homunculi either? No? Okay, call me if you get any word. Okay, Thank you, Good bye." He returned to his position in his chair while a knock sounded at his door. "Come in."

Riza Hawkeye came in with a solute. "Colonel, Winry Rockbell is on the phone, sir."

"Patch her in."


	8. Enter The Unmentioned

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter Eight

Enter The Unmentioned

Mustang didn't exactly know how to tell Winry, he knew how deeply she cared for the Elrics, especially Ed. And they still hadn't found them.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Colonel Mustang. I'm coming to Central."

"Why?"

"I'd rather you tell me whatever it is you have to tell me in person."

"Didn't you call us?"

"No.?"

'_Damnit, Hawkeye, why do you always have to meddle?'_ Mustang yelled in his head ready to snap when her head peeped in the door, but quickly vanished. "Alright, I'll send someone to get you at the train station in the morning, get a hotel room ready for you, and send you some tickets, will your grandmother be joining you?"

"No. Thank you and goodbye."

"Goodbye, Winry. I'll see you in a couple days." He quickly hung up the phone. "Riza!"

The door opened quickly, he knew she had been eavesdropping. "Yes sir?"

"Are you against me or something?"

"No, sir, but she has a right to know if you can't find them, it's bad enough that that boy keeps her in the dark for most of his life, or at least all that he possibly can. He only talks to her when he needs an automail repair."

"I know, but I can't stand to see women cry and … You'll be here when she comes, and you're going to help me."

"What?"

"It's your fault I even have to do this; she shouldn't have even had to worry."

"You don't think she doesn't already worry about him? She never knows where he is and never knows how he is! He never tells her anything!"

"I know."

_**Back in Feudal Japan**_

"Where are those idiots?" Inuyasha was always terribly inpatient.

"Who the **hell** are you calling an idiot?" Ed yelled from the woods '_Well, at least he's not calling me short again.'_

"You! Where the hell were you?"

"…None of your damn business!"

"We were at the river talking!" Al chirped brightly, making Ed fall face first.

"What was the point of letting me answer!"

"_Thank you, Al!_ At least _someone_ is polite."

"And you are!" Shippo fell on his back laughing.

"Fox, I'll kill you!" Inuyasha was about to leap at him, but before he could do anything, a golden strike of lightning hit him, sending him flying across camp.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome immediately ran to his side. Everyone else getting into battle position. Purple smoke appeared in front of them. They all tensed, ready to attack the figure that would emerge. A tall, white haired man walked out of the smoke.

"Sesshomaru! What the **Hell** was that for, and what are you doing here?" Inuyasha finally stood, only to see his brother.

"Oh, Dear little brother, I didn't hurt you did I? I wouldn't want to take you out so early."

"That's Inuyasha's brother? Why did he attack him?" Al couldn't understand why anyone would want to attack their brother.

"Why are you here, Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha was in his battle position, his hand on Tetsusaiga's handle, ready to be drawn at the drop of a coin.

"That's Inuyasha's half brother, he's a full demon." Shippo explained from behind Miroku.

"Now, Brother, what would make you ask a stupid question like that?" asked Sesshomaru with his cold stare.

"Well, you attacked me for no reason, after showing up uninvited!"

"Ah, and I see you have more useless humans with you than before, or at least, another human and a suit of armor."

Miroku covered Ed's mouth. "This demon will have no problem killing you for no reason. He's mortally wounded Inuyasha more than once." Ed understood, he'd have to hold his tongue, for now.

"Whatever, why are you here?"

"Yes, well, you see, I'm sick of you having what belongs to me, so if you'll kindly hand over my Tetsusaiga then I won't have to embarrass you in front of your new friends."

"We'll see who gets embarrassed, Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha leapt and landed in front of the group and turned to whisper to them, "No one is to interfere; he'll have no problem killing you. All of you, stay back, I don't want anyone to get hurt who isn't part of the battle. Understood?" They all nodded, "Understood, Kagome? Stay out of this; I don't care what happens to me, Just stay out of it until Sesshomaru leaves." Kagome nodded "Ed, Al, Miroku, you are to protect them and yourselves, don't let Kagome interfere, and you're not allowed to either. Everyone got it?" They all nodded. "Okay, Wish Me luck, even though I don't need it and I highly doubt it'd help even if I did." He lept off, landing in front of Sesshomaru in his battle stance.

"Ready to die, Little Brother?"

"You've lived longer than I have; I think you should get the luxury of dieing first, don't you?"

"No, no, you go on ahead." He lept forward, claws ready, they met Inuyasha's right cheek. "Too slow, half breed. If you keep going that slow, you'll never stay alive."

"Well, I learned how to move like that from you, dear brother." Answered Inuyasha smiling, knowing that would bother his brother.

Sesshomaru's features changed; his face becoming fiercer, frightening, he was threatening to change. "I've never moved that slowly, even when I was wounded! You will pay for marring the name of Sesshomaru!" His claws began to glow a bright noxious green. He struck again, this time meeting Inuyasha's right arm. "Soon you will know what it is like to only have one arm!"

Inuyasha turned, aiming a kick at Sesshomaru's side, missing, but still catching him in the ribs, sending him flying. "Who's slow now? You really should pay better attention to your opponents, Sesshy!"

"Lord Sesshomaru!" A small girl emerged from the bushes, with a green imp following shortly after her.

"Rin! Lord Sesshomaru told you to stay back here!"

"I know, Master Jaken, but he's hurt!"

"Rin! Stay back with Jaken! And Jaken, if you can't keep a hold on her it will be your life! Rin, I'm not hurt, my weakling of a brother couldn't injure me with such a quaint move."

His reassurance was interrupted with the windscar attack from Inuyasha's blade.


	9. Witness To The War

**Disclaimer: I won nothing**

Chapter Nine

Witness to War

"Why are they fighting?" Al didn't understand why brothers would wish for the other's death, he could never wish anything like that on his brother.

"He wants Inuyasha's sword, the Tetsusaiga." Miroku couldn't comprehend this either, though he didn't have any siblings.

"All of this for a sword?" Ed was stunned.

"The Tetsusaiga is a master blade, forger by a master sword smith, this sword has won wars." Sango was envious of Ed and Al and what they had.

"But still, to kill each other for it?"

"Sesshomaru rarely shows any mercy towards Inuyasha, he's only done it twice in front of us." Kagome couldn't look up, in fear all she'd see was Inuyasha getting hurt, even though she thought Inuyasha had as much chance of winning as Sesshomaru.

"When was this?" Miroku couldn't remember.

"When Inuyasha changed into a full demon in battle with him and when you guys were stuck in that cocoon and he slaughtered the bandits."

"Inuyasha slaughtered people?" Ed was amazed, even though he didn't care for Inuyasha; he couldn't imagine him killing people.

"No! He wasn't in his right mind!"

"But he still killed people!"

"He didn't know what he was doing!"

"People are still dead because of him though, just because he didn't know what he was doing doesn't bring them back does it."

"Brother, give Inuyasha the benefit of the doubt. You almost killed a group of prisoners in Lab 5."

"Yeah, _almost_, he actually did it!"

"When Inuyasha is separated from the Tetsusaiga and is in danger, his demon blood takes over and he turns into a full demon, although he will die if he is a full demon for too long." Kagome hated explaining this, she dreaded the thought of Inuyasha dieing, or being a full demon at all.

"Does Sesshomaru want to take the Tetsusaiga to kill Inuyasha?" Al was confused.

"We don't know, but all we do know is that if Sesshomaru does get the Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha will eventually die." Miroku answered so that Kagome didn't have to.

"But did he want the Tetsusaiga before Inuyasha had it?" Al was curious.

"Yes, he sought after it when Inuyasha and his father died. It took him more that 70 years to find it." Kagome knew a lot of the story.

"Sesshomaru is more that 70 years old?" '_He certainly doesn't look it!'_ Al turned his head to the side to get a better look, nothing.

"Yes, so is Inuyasha. He was sealed to a tree for 50 years, but before that, he doesn't talk about, at all. All we do know is that Inuyasha lived with his mother, but she died when he was very young, and Inuyasha's father died when he was a newborn. After that, he doesn't talk about. The sad thing is, he didn't tell us all of that, we found it out from Myoga." It hurt Kagome deeply that Inuyasha didn't tell him anything.

"Wow…Who's Myoga?"

"He's…a flea demon, I guess he's Inuyasha's keeper…. I guess. He's a chicken, and runs in the sign of any danger."

"Well, it's always good to hear what people think about me." No one noticed Myoga sitting on Kirara's ear.

"Well, it's not like we're lying." Shippo muttered, crossing his arms.

"Anyways, who are these two; the blond and the armored one?"

"They're Ed and Al. They just appeared here a while ago."

"Ah, um, okay! So, why are Lord Inuyasha and Sesshomaru fighting again?"

"No clue really, probably just the same 'you're my half bother, you suck' or 'give me your sword or I'll kill you'. You know the usual." Ed and Al were gawking at Miroku, amazed at how suddenly he shrugged all of this off.

"They really should try to get along; they might need each other's help someday." **(A/N Hello 3rd movie!)**

"I don't understand how brothers can wish for each other's deaths! I mean I want, sometimes I want to hit Ed, but kill him, never!"

"What do you mean you want to hit me? You generally do! So does Winry! Except she uses a wrench! It hurts, too!" Ed started rubbing his head.

**Back at Central**

Winry stepped off the train, suitcase in hand. Her straw colored hair moved in the small breeze the arriving trains created. She turned to see Havoc, checking her out, as nonchalantly as possible; he noticed her looking at him and quickly averted his eyes and took a long drag on his cigarette. The largest possible sweat drop attached itself to the back of her head.

"Nice to see you Ms. Rockbell."

"Hi, Havoc! Can we go to see the Colonel now?"

"Yeah." Havoc was depressed that Winry hadn't at all seem happy to see him.

BACK AT THE COLONEL'S

"Hello, Winry!" Mustang stood "You may leave Hawkeye."

"Yes sir."

"Wait no, on second thought, you stay here! You'll be of use."

Her eyes immediately focused on the ground, "Yes Sir."

"Now, why did you guys call me, what is wrong with Ed?" She didn't bother to hide the concern in her voice, it would be useless anyways, then she'd cry if she did.

"Well, that's the thing, we don't know. We can't find either Elric or 3 of the homunculi."

"So, you have no idea where they are?"

"None."

Winry's head slumped into her hands; Hawkeye leaned in and gave a comforting hug.

"I'm going to hotel room now, if you don't mind." Winry rose, her head down to hide her red eyes.

"Okay, do you want some one to take you?"

"No, just tell me the hotel and the room, and I'll go."

"Hawkeye will show you. Farewell." He rose again. Hawkeye and Winry left. Leaving him to think. _'Dammit, Ed. Do you know what you're doing to Winry?'_

Winry was walking to her hotel, engulfed in her thoughts, far too preoccupied to notice that she took a wrong turn and walked into an alleyway. "Where am I?" An envelope engulfed her, taking her to the unknown.

"What do you mean Winry's not there yet? She left here 3 hours ago! Send a search party out for her, Ed'll kill me anything happens to her!"

**With Winry**

"Where am I?" Winry sat up to the sitting position. She looked around herself to find trees and grass. "Hello!"

"Winry?" She turned to find a familiar face she'd been longing to see.

"Ed!"


	10. A New Arrival

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter Ten

A New Arrival

"Ed!" Winry cried as she rose and ran to him. "I, we were all soo scared! We, we couldn't find you and Al. Al! Is he here with you, please tell me he's here as well!"

"Winry! What're you doing here?" Al turned to find her with Ed.

"Who's this now? A beautiful young maiden? Now why are you crying?"

"Miroku you touch here and I'll kill you!" Ed readily transmuted his hand into a blade and stepped in front of Winry.

"Hentai! You touch her and I'll cut off both of your hands!" Sango spat stepping forward.

"Sango, my sweet! If you're worried about my affections changing for you, they won't." He pulled her into a tight hug; Sango's back facing Ed and them.

Miroku hand moved swiftly over her butt. "AHH, Miroku, you freaking pervert! I swear I'll kill you!" Sango grabbed her Hiraikotsu and slammed it over Miroku's head, completely taking him out. "You hear me you disgusting Lecher!"

"Sango, I don't think he can hear anything!" Kagome walked over and tapped his side with her shoe. Sango bent down to smack his cheek; giving Miroku, even though he was 'unconscious' to rub her back side, although she was only planning to lightly smack him, she too the opportunity to take a full swing, hitting him hard enough he flew close to Inuyasha and Sesshomaru's battle.

"Gyaa!" He quickly scrambled to his feet, running and hiding behind Al.

"Do they always act like this?" The FMA gang asked in perfect unison.

"Yeah." Kagome rubbed the back of her head.

"Who are those men, the one's fighting over there?" Winry looked in front of Ed.

"Ah, that's Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. They're Half brothers." Al looked at Ed.

"That's gotta make you feel better about your relationship." Winry turning to Al with a weak smile. "So, where are we?"

"Do we have to explain this again?" asked Shippo rolling his eyes.

"No, Shippo we'll take care of things." It took Ed and Al a while to explain everything to Winry. Winry seemed as though she didn't believe a word, but that was to be expected, they hadn't believed that much either.

"Are the 'best buddies' done fighting yet?" Sango resented that those two threw away the fact they were brothers soo needlessly.

"No, not quite." Just as Kagome said that, Inuyasha unleashed Tetsusaiga's key attack.

"Windscar!" Yellow bolts of destructive power erupted from the sword, heading toward Sesshomaru.

"Now, now, little brother. Don't forget that I knew that attack before you were born!" Sesshomaru lunged at his brother, his claws up, ready for the attack, seeping with poison. "Poison claws." His claws met Inuyasha's shoulder this time, sending him flying.

Inuyasha smashed into a tree. Slumping to the bottom. Rubbing his head then, grabbing his shoulder, which had a steady stream of blood coming from it. All of the spectators winced in spite of Inuyasha's pain. "Inuyasha!" Kagome started to run to him.

"Stay away! He'll have no problem killing you!"

"Aw, Inuyasha are you trying to protect her? You think that would work? Even if she isn't my target, I could have still killed her when she was over there." He launched another attack, this time for Inuyasha's stomach. He hit his target.

"No Inuyasha! Sesshomaru!" She laced her bow, ready to kill. "You leave now or I swear I kill you! Remember my arrows have sacred powers, and they'll kill a demon, much like yourself."

"Fine, I'll go. But don't you dare think for a moment that this is over," he turned to face the unconscious Inuyasha, "I'll kill this _useless_ hanyou and get _my_ sword." He walked over and met Rin and Jaken, and they left. Rin and Jaken riding Aun **(A/N: SP? It's Sesshomaru's demon.)**.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome ran to him, there being nothing to stop her this time. Tears flowing down her face. Nothing could make this worse for her.

He opened his eyes, only to see her crying. "Please, Kagome. Don't cry, please?" His eyes flickered in and out of focus.

"And why shouldn't I? You're hurt and you wouldn't let us help!" She leaned in and hugged him. That was the last thing he remembered.

He next woke up in Kaede's hut. His eyes darted around the room, mostly to find anyone familiar. Ed walked into the hut.

"Ah, you're okay then? Your injuries were terrible. Kagome wouldn't leave the hut for the first couple of days."

"Where's Kagome now?"

"Out with Sango and Winry."

"Your Winry, the one you were talking about?"

"Yes."

"Wait, you said 'the first couple of days', how long have I been asleep?"

"Um, maybe…5 days."

"5 days! Aw, man we could've found Naraku and killed him in 5 days." He leaned back in disgust. "Damn this half-breed body of mine! The fraility of the Human half pisses me off!"

"Why do you detest it so much? I don't mind being human."

"Yes, but you've never experience anything else other than being a human."

"Hmm. I should tell Kagome you're awake."

"Wait a little while; give me time to wake up a little. She'll worry if I look too tired."

"I can relate to that with Win." Ed turned on his heal, leaving casually.

About 10 minutes had passed when Kagome came storming in the Hut with Winry behind her, dragging Ed by his ear.

"So, he was awake and you didn't feel it necessary to tell me!" Kagome was pissed.

"I told him not to!" Inuyasha stood to defend the poor alchemist.

"And you listened!" Winry hit Ed in the forehead with the wrench that was attached to her belt.

"Gyaa! Don't hit me with that! I bought that for you!" Too late, he was out cold now.

"Why did you tell him not to tell me?" Kagome thought she demanded very little from Inuyasha, but she thought he owed her this much.

"I didn't want you to worry." He couldn't even look at her; her eyes would be full of un-fallen tears.

"I always worry about you! It's hard not to, you always get yourself in such dilemmas, your life is always in danger!" Her hands were shaking in tightly clenched fists, there were tears streaming down her cheeks, and all Inuyasha knew was that it was his fault.

"Please don't cry, Kagome. Not over me at least. I'm not worth your tears."

"What are you talking about? What do you mean you're not worth my tears?"

"I'm not, plain and simple."

"And why is this?"

"Because you shouldn't cry over a half-breed."

"What does the fact that you're a half-breed have to do with this?"

"Plenty, half-breeds are useless, didn't you hear Sesshomaru?"

"If you don't like him, then why do you listen to what he has to say?"

"…" He knew she was right, although he'd never admit that.

"I'll get more medicine to treat your injuries." She rose and left, stepping over Ed's unconscious body, she took Winry with her.

"Hey….You okay Alchemist Boy? Hello?" Inuyasha kicked him sharply in the side.

"Gnng, What do you what Mustang, you annoying piece of…"

"I'm not Mustang, get up!" Inuyasha spat as he kicked Ed in the side again.

"What the hell happened, why does my head hurt?" He grabbed his forehead in pain.

"Your girlfriend hit you with a piece of metal, I think you called it a wrench."

"She's not my girlfriend! Damn her! I bought her that frickin' thing and she keeps hitting me with it!"


	11. Girl Talk

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter Eleven

Girl Talk

"So, how mad do you think those two are at us?" Ed was used to Winry being mad at him, he didn't know if it was the same way for Inuyasha and Kagome.

"Hmmm," A slam was heard from outside and Miroku and Sango yelling, "Well, at least we're not Miroku, he's a dumbass!"

"So, is he _always_ a lecher?"

"Pretty much, lecher-boy is shameless; he has no problem copping a feel on anyone, especially Sango though. They love eachother. But Miroku always pisses her off by asking random women to bear his children, or by just feeling them up."

"Ah, Miss Winry, is it? I have a question to ask you!"

"Miroku you touch her and I'll kill you!" Ed rose and flew out the door, and slammed Miroku into a tree and started wailing on him, Hard.

"What's that about?" Winry was just watching Ed kill Miroku.

"Believe me, you don't want to know. Just stay as far away from Miroku as possible." Sango grabbed Winry around the shoulders and started to lead her away.

"Should I stop Ed?"

"If you like." Winry went over and hit Ed with her wrench again.

"Brother!" Al rushed over to help his dizzy brother.

"Just leave him alone, Al or I'll hit you, too."

"Gyaa, what did I do, Win? Wait, what did Ed do?"

"Nothing."

"But why did you hit him then?"

"No reason really."

"Okay."

"Dammit, woman! Get some damn Midol!" Ed had just regained consciousness.

"What! Dammit Ed!" She hit him repeatedly with the wrench, until Al pulled her off.

"You're going to kill him, Win!"

"That's the freaking point!" Sango pulled her away again.

"What is Midol?" Winry whispered the answer in her ear, causing Sango to blush terribly. Once her face returned to its original color, it only reverted to its blush, while Sango turned to slam Miroku in the head. "I much prefer you unconscious." Her tick mark appeared in its usual spot on her forehead.

"So what was he going to ask me?"

"If you'd bare his children."

"Oh. Why do you say that like it's nothing!"

"Oh, he asks every girl that, save for me."

"Why didn't he ask you?"

"I don't know." The hurt in her voice was evident. Winry could tell that it bothered her that he didn't ask her, but why? _'Why would she want him to ask her? He's a creep! Wait….maybe she…loves him!'_ "Do you love him?" She had waited to ask that until they were a good distance from camp.

"Who?"

"Miroku."

"Why, is it that obvious?"

"Kinda'."

Kagome ran up to join them. "What is obvious?"

"The fact that she loves Miroku." Sango was glaring blades at Winry _'Why would she tell her so simply?'_

"You have to understand Sango, women can tell, Inuyasha, Miroku, Ed, Al, and Shippo are pretty much oblivious to this fact."

"Well they were until Shippo announced it the other day to everyone!" _'Dammit, Shippo!'_

"Oh, no! He didn't did he!" Winry had dreaded the same thing happening with her and Ed.

"And Al announced that Ed loves you and that you are Ed's girlfriend." Kagome had felt it necessary to tell her new friend that much.

"I'll kill him!" Winry turned around and bolted toward camp. She NEEDED to hurt Al.

"Wait!" Both Sango and Kagome lunged to catch her, missed, and fell. "We have to catch her, Al will kill us!" They stood up and ran after her. Lucky for them, they could run much faster than Winry. They jumped for her and took her out. All three of them were lying on the ground talking after Sango and Kagome explained their reasoning.

"We had to stop you. We're sorry." Kagome looked at the ground somberly.

"I can understand that, I wouldn't want Al mad at me. He's far too nice of a guy to give up a friendship with him." Winry never did anything to make Al mad at her. Her thoughts turned to her crush. "What did Ed say to that?"

"His face got really red and she ran after Al and Shippo."

"Why Shippo?"

"Because he started singing 'Eddie has a girlfriend.'"

"That makes sense to me." She smiled brightly, _'it seems Ed likes me as well, maybe I will have to flirt. Wait… I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FLIRT!'_** (A/N: Believe me, it is possible, my sister doesn't know how to flirt…at all. No skills in that, she has 2 twins that like her and it's very funny to watch them flirt with her and watch her sit there helpless.) **"Can you guys help me?"

"Help you what?"

"Flirt."

"You don't know how?"

"Not really, I've never been quite good with boys, except for being their friends, other than that no."

"Well, first, stop hitting him with your wrench…"

"How did you know it was Ed I wanted to flirt with?"

"Well, Miroku and Inuyasha are kind of taken, and you show no interest in Shippo or Al."

"Why are Miroku and Inuyasha taken?"

"Well…um… Inuyasha is in love with another woman and Miroku is… a lecher!" Sango was happy Kagome came up with that quick excuse.

"I see, you are in love with Inuyasha and Sango is in love with Miroku." Winry was happy to see that those two were as vulnerable as she was.

"Actually, what you said is true, but Inuyasha is _really_ in love with another woman."

"Whom?"

"Well, Kagome is a priestess's reincarnation, and Inuyasha is in love with that woman as well as Kagome."

"You actually think Inuyasha is in love with me?"

"Of course, isn't it obvious?"

"Yeah, even though I wasn't here very long, even I could tell." This completely overjoyed Kagome, she still thought that Inuyasha's heart only belonged to Kikyo. "I mean; he didn't like to see you cry…"

"Wait no! That doesn't prove anything! He didn't like to see me cry even when we first met and he tried to kill me!"

"He tried to kill you!"

"Yeah, to get the Jewel."

"What Jewel?"

"The Shikon Jewel, the Jewel of Four souls."

"Why did he want it?"

"To become a Full demon."

"Like his murderous brother!"

"Yeah."


	12. The Night of the New Moon

**Disclaimer: I own Nothing**

Chapter Twelve

The Night of the New Moon

Winry didn't understand how anyone would want to be like that, she didn't even understand how Ed and Al would be soo willing to put themselves in danger's way so casually. "So, why does Inuyasha want to be a full demon?"

"I think... to be stronger."

"That's it, the only reason he'll risk all that he has now, is to be stronger! Why are men soo freaking stupid and Independent!"** (A/N: If anyone can honestly answer that for me, please tell me. Men confuse me. Like my boyfriend, he'll flirt with other girls and these guys flirt with me all the time and he sees it and gets like really jealous. 'What the hell, man! I mean you're such a freaking hypocrite!' Sorry for that, just help me please)** Winry's hands were shaking she was soo pissed.

"I know, like Inuyasha is the lord of stupid, independent, jealous, idiots! He always has to be macho and he hides his feelings. Save for one night in the month were he'll actually…. Wait… Sango what night is it?"

"Oh, crap! Does Inuyasha know!"

"I don't know! We have to get back to camp now!"

"Why are you guys freaking out?"

Sango and Kagome weren't listening. They stood and raced for camp, they didn't think Inuyasha realized what day it was; there had been too much excitement in the last couple of days.

It didn't take them very long to get back to camp, their worry increased their speed. They found all of the men sitting around the fire, Inuyasha was the first to look up and notice the worry in all of the women's faces. "What's wrong?" He rose and went over to Kagome in a flash.

"Do you remember what night it is going to be!" Kagome's face was overflowing with concern.

"Oh, God! Are you serious!"

All Kagome could do was nod. Miroku and Shippo stood, alarmed by what they had remembered.

"Shit! Not now! Sesshomaru, Naraku, and the Homunculi are around! They could find us and kill us….DAMMIT!" Inuyasha grabbed the Tetsusiaga and stormed off into Kaede's hut.

"What is wrong?" Al, Ed, and Winry were completely confused.

"Come closer, we can't say this aloud, certain people can't hear this. Let's go into Kaede's hut, it's safer in there." They all followed Inuyasha's lead into the Hut. "Do you want me to explain, Inuyasha?"

"Feh, I don't give a damn who does it, I'm not going to, though." He grumbled something about being a half demon sucking and sat against the far wall and fell asleep.

"Okay…? Well, since Inuyasha is a half demon, he has one night a month were he'll turn into a mortal man."

"WOW….that sucks!" Ed's forehead met Inuyasha's fist quickly. "I thought you were asleep!"

"Demon powers, Tard, demon powers! I can her everything you say up to like a mile away!" He slammed Ed in the head multiply.

"Inuyasha… Sit! If you want me to tell the story, then don't interrupt!"

"Fine dammit, but make the boy- blonde- wonder stop talking!" Kagome only caught a few words of it and that was only because he was yelling.

"Fine, whatever! So Inuyasha's night of the month is on the might of the New moon. **(A/N: I know what that sounds like, but don't mock me! I couldn't think of another way to phrase that!)**

"You all realize that this is a secret and no one can know!" He turned to glare at Kagome, "But more and more people seem to be finding out about it!"

"That just means you're making more friends!" She added an innocent smile to that, to make him somewhat forgive her.

"Whatever!"

"Gyaa! Where's my backpack?" Kagome ran out of the hut to find her bag.

"What's wrong?" Inuyasha stuck her head out of the hut.

"How many days has it been since I came back from my era?"

"About fifteen…Why?"

"I have a test Monday!"

"Oh, come on, Kagome! Don't leave us all here again, we have these people, too, we need your help!" Shippo gave her a pleading look.

"Maybe, if you let me go back for one day, then I can get my brother to borrow either Ayumi, Yuka, and Eri's notes! I'll be back in the morning."

"You mean 'we'll be back in the morning'." Inuyasha walked out of the hut and grabbed Kagome's back and walked into the woods.

"Why are you coming?"

"Because you'll take too long, you'll go to your damn school and take forever."

"Fine, whatever. Sango can we borrow Kirara?"

"Yeah, maybe you should take one of the boys with you."

"Why, Sango, do you think I'm useless or something?" Inuyasha hated being categorized as a weakling.

"No, I mean, you're injured _and_ it's the New Moon. You'll need some help protecting you and Kagome." _'Save! Go, Me!'_ Sango didn't want to piss Inuyasha off.

"I'll go." Ed rose to his feet and followed after Inuyasha.

"I'm still going to send Kirara with you, so Ed'll have a ride back to camp." Kirara sprinted out of the hut on Sango's command.

They all started walking, in silence. Inuyasha's features started changing; only Ed was gawking at him. "Why are you staring, Alchemist-Boy?"

"Your hair is turning black and your ears are gone!"

"And my claws and fangs are gone and my eyes are brown now and my senses are all dull! I can't hear, smell, and feel what I did before!"

"Calm down, Inuyasha! He meant no offence by saying that! He's just never seen you like this!" Kagome stepped in front of him and grabbed his shoulders.

"Feh, well, he'd better get a good look, because when I come back in the morning I'll look like I did this morning, without the injuries."

"You mean, you'll be fully healed!" _'I'd be laid up for more than six days with those injuries!'_ "How is that possible!"

"Again…demon powers, bud."

They reached the well quickly, mostly because Inuyasha wanted to be out of sight as soon as possible.

"This is where we leave you, Ed!"

"This is a well." Ed just stared blankly at it.

"Yes, thank you, Sherlock! This is Kagome's and my doorway to her time." Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"This is the Bone Eater's well, it has a time rift that leads to my time."

"Ah…um…okay…? Well, goodbye then. Wait, why did Sango send Kirara with me?"

"Kirara, Transform!" Once Kagome commanded it, Kirara transformed into a large fire cat.

"Gyaa!" Ed jumped back in fear.

"Oh shut up and get on her back!" Inuyasha picked him up and set him on Kirara's back. "Kirara take him strait back to camp once we're in the well."

Kirara meowed in understanding, once Inuyasha and Kagome were in the well, she did as she was told. Leaving Ed to focus on the frailest part of a feudal era hero and the fact that his life on one night of the night rested on how well people could keep a secret. It didn't take too long to arrive back at camp. He received questioning looks from all of those who were there.

"What's wrong, brother?"

"Hmm, ah….nothing, it's just that, I find it curious that Inuyasha's life on one night of the month depends on how well people can keep a secret."

"It is curious, but very true. These times are dark, very dark. A lot of people plot against Inuyasha, Koga, and Kagome. Sango, Kagome, and I have all died before."

"If you've died, how are you here?" Al stood. He couldn't grasp any part of this.

"Well, there were two possible ways. (One) steal Sesshomaru's Tensaiga, or (Two), which is how Myoga did it, to remove the reason for the death. See, we had been ailed be poison, so he sucked it out of us."

"Ed, don't even think of it, trying to get mom back the first time had been a mistake, doing it twice would just be lunacy." Al stopped his brother in his tracks.

"I realize that, but to think, that they have the option of returning people to life in the era is… unfair."

"Only Sesshomaru has that option, and he wouldn't do that for just anyone."

"Why does that murderous beast get the option of reviving people?"

"His father bequeathed that sword to him. Probably to change his outlook on life. Sesshomaru would have killed his own father to gain more power when he was younger, His father realized this, and wouldn't you have done something about this if you were him?"

"Who would he revive anyways, he doesn't like his kin, so, and who else is left that would be close enough for him to care about?"

"Rin and Jaken. Look at things from Sesshomaru's perspective; he thinks it is all Izayoi and Inuyasha's fault that their father, Inu no Taisho, is dead."

"Who are; Jaken, Rin and Izayoi?"

"Rin is the little girl that ran out of the bushes in the middle of the battle with Sesshomaru and Jaken is the little green imp that ran out after her. Izayoi is Inuyasha's mother."

"How did she die?"

"We do not know, we only know that Inu no Taisho died in a battle when Inuyasha was a newborn and Izayoi died when Inuyasha was _very_ young."

"Why does Inuyasha look down so terribly on being a half demon? He was cursing being half human when I was in the hut with him this morning." Ed didn't mind it and didn't know why Inuyasha resented it so.

"Inuyasha has been tormented all of his life. Neither human nor demons had fully accepted him until he met us all and Kikyo. Other than that, there was his mom. Inuyasha was beaten up when he was little because of the fact that he **_was_** a half demon. He had no friends; that is why he does keep to himself. If you think he is distant now, you should have seen him when we first met him. He would tell us nothing, not even Kagome could get through to him."


	13. At The Higurashi Shrine

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter Thirteen

At The Higurashi Shrine

Inuyasha picked Kagome up bridal style and hopped out of the well. Kagome grabbed his hand and led him to the sliding- glass kitchen door.

"Hi, Mom! We're home!"

"Oh, hi, dear!" Kagome's mom turned around and waved warmly.

"Feh, you make it sound like I live here." Inuyasha wouldn't mind that, but he found it odd that Kagome's mom had already liked him that enough to just accept him.

"And why shouldn't she? We all like you here; Sota thinks of you as a friend, role model, and hero, my father likes to talk with you, and I think you're a nice boy." She smiled brightly at the end of her explanation.

"Feh, you phrase it like I'm a prodigy child or model guy." He crossed his arms in disgust.

"Well, aren't you?"

He blushed thoroughly, "Um, no. Far from it."

'_That's true!'_ Kagome knew the real Inuyasha, but she also knew the one he portrayed himself as around people, the selfish, arrogant, independent, jealous, and macho fool. "I have to go to school tomorrow if Sota can't get my notes, Inuyasha."

"Where is he!" Inuyasha demanded, but before Mrs. Higurashi could answer, Inuyasha tore up the stairs with Kagome on his heals. They found him in his room reading a manga called "The adventures of Iron man and Copper boy!" and laying upside down over the side of his bed. **(A/N: That's what I do when I read "The adventures of Iron man and Copper boy!"! … …..-. JKJK, I only read FMA, Trigun, and Inuyasha…and sometimes the ones in Cover Girl. -.)**

"Sota! Can you get Kagome's notes from her friends for her test tomorrow?"

Sota fell off his bed when Inuyasha stormed into the room. "Hi, Sis! Hi, Inuyasha! When did you guys get back?"

"ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!"

"Inuyasha, SIT BOY!" Sota giggled at the sight of his hero being taken out by one word.

"What is soo funny, boy!" Inuyasha spat from the ground.

"Well, Sota, can you do that for us?" Kagome flash an innocent smile at him.

"Oh yeah, sis. Actually, I actually did." He got up from the bed and went to his bag, bringing back a packet of papers with typed notes on them.

"Who typed these?"

"I did during study hall."** (A/N: Study hall, work period, call it whatever you like.)**

Kagome ran over to her little brother and squeezed him tight. "Oh, Sota, thank you, what a good little helper you are!"

'_So all I have to do is type some notes and she'll hug me like that!' _Inuyasha was actually jealous of what Sota had just gone through.

"What's wrong, Inuyasha? Are you okay?" Inuyasha was knocked out of his thoughts.

"Um, yeah…fine. Thanks, Kid, you saved us a lot of time."

Sota loved to receive praise from his hero, Inuyasha. "Oh! Yeah, No Problem!"

"Come on, Kagome I'll help you study in your room." They walked down the hallway to her room. Inuyasha sitting on her bed with some of the notes in hand, Kagome at her vanity **(A/N: Her desk thing with the mirror, for those of you who didn't know what it was…I didn't mean to offend any of you who did know….-, continue on.)** "Okay, Sally has three times as many dimes as nickels and twice as many quarters as dimes. In all, she has $5.55. How many coins of each type does she have?"

"Um, she has three nickels, nine dimes, and eighteen quarters…Right?" Kagome pulled out her calculator to check. "Sweet! I'm right!"

"Very good! Another?" They had been doing Algebra problems for three hours now. They had already done Bio, Language, Foreign Language (with much difficulty), and all that was left was Global studies. So far, they had been studying for six hours.

"Sure, but we'll only do a little of global. Six hours is a lot of time! I aught to do very well on the tests, thanks, Inuyasha!"

"No problem, what area are you studying for Global?"

"Your era!"

"Really! Anything about us or the jewel?"

"Yes." Her voice dropped, she didn't want to look, in fear of seeing something bad.

"Oh. You know what, let's leave it a surprise." Her eyes looked at his; she knew that he sensed her fears, even if he wasn't a half-demon now.

"Let's not do global. I'll do it later." She got up and walked over to the bed. His eyes looked at her questioningly. She ignored them and sat next to him. He draped his arm around her shoulders. She knew he was unsure if that was okay, so to welcome him, she grabbed his hand and pulled his arm tighter around her.

"Kagome…?"

"Hmm?"

"Um …I….I, um, think we should go back."

"Why?"

"Well, we studied, I mean, I could even pass that test now! And the new guys probably need our help getting back where they belong."

"True, okay." She rose, letting his arm fall, unwanted. A hurt look appeared on his face. She turned to see this and made a quick decision. "Inuyasha…"

"Yeah…?" She steeped close and kissed his lips gingerly, flashed him a sweet smile and turned to walk away again.

"Thanks."

"No Problem!" _'Yes! I even got a better reward than Sota!'_

The walked out of the room and down the stairs to tell Mrs. Higurashi they were leaving again holding hands.

"Um, mom…?"

"Yes, dear?" Her back was facing them; she was making dinner for Sota.

"We're leaving now."

"Oh, soo soon? Hmm, well, I have already packed your bag with more food and the supplies I bought from the pharmacy. There should be enough Ramen there to last even Inuyasha awhile." Sota walked in while she was saying this, he noticed Inuyasha and Kagome holding hand and ran out of the room laughing.

"What's with the brat?" He looked around to see what he was laughing at, noticed he and Kagome were still holding hands, blushed, let go of her hand, and ran after Sota. "Hey, Sota! Get back here! Hold still!"

"Inuyasha, SIT!"

"Gyaa! Damnit!"

"Inuyasha watch your mouth!" Mrs. Higurashi put her hands on her waist in disgust. Mrs. Higurashi and Kagome focused their attention on each other again. "So you're leaving already?"

"Yeah, we have to help our new friends. Plus, Inuyasha helped me study, so I aught to be pretty prepared for the tests I have coming up."

"Okay, well, you two be careful. Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha came from the upstairs. "Yeah..?"

"I have a change of clothes in the closet, change into those and give me your Haori and your Hakama. They need to be washed; they have stains all over them!" Inuyasha did what he was told with, Sota's help, and handed his ball of clothes to Mrs. Higurashi. His new outfit consisted of a pair of loose fitting khaki pants and a black wife beater (tank top/muscle shirt) with a red button down shirt over it. Kagome looked at him with half glazed over eyes for the first couple of minutes, causing Inuyasha to wave his hand back and forth in front of her face.

"When I get my clothes back, we're leaving." Inuyasha crossed his arms and glared at the floor.

"You're not even going to change back?"

"No. It's bad enough we'll be late anyways."

"It'll still be dark when we get back."

"So…?"

It took twenty minutes for Mrs. Higurashi to wash the clothes. She put them into Kagome's bag; she could tell how impatient Inuyasha was getting. Kagome gave her mom a quick hug, and then Inuyasha dragged her into the well. They returned to camp to find everyone still awake, giving Inuyasha no time to change into his normal clothes or to let go of Kagome's hand.

"Ahh-haha, Inuyasha has a girlfriend **_and _**a new style." Miroku, Shippo, and Ed all laughed so hard they fell backwards.

"Shut up! Kagome's mom had to wash my clothes!" He went and punched all of them on the fore head, hard enough to leave a large goose- egg.

"Aww, Kagome's mommy loves Inuyasha!" They all laughed more, while their goose- eggs made new friends.

"GRRR!"

"Aw, Inuyasha, don't let them bother you, I think you look cute, you'd fit in with those clothes in my era, with your hat of coarse. That was if you wanted to anyways. Maybe we could go out sometime, maybe to the movies or a party." Kagome flashed a mischievous smile, only Winry, Ed, and Al knew what she meant by that. Winry giggled while Ed and Al shuddered.

"Winry and I think you look cute, too!" Sango smiled. This caused Ed and Miroku to think the same thing _'We need to borrow those clothes!'_


	14. Enter The Unwanted

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter Fourteen

Enter the Unwanted

Not only did the next day bring new promises, but also everyone's favorite hanyou. Of course he was now in his proper clothes. Miroku had stolen them after Inuyasha took them off and hid them in his bag. Sango kept glaring at him and made sure to keep a close eye on him. Ed was continuously in a confused state because Winry kept coming over sitting next to him, blushing, and going over to Sango and Kagome and whispering while looking at him and nodding.

Ed turned to Miroku. "What do you think they're whispering about?"

"Apparently, you're as blind as Inuyasha." Miroku replied, nonchalantly, sipping some tea.

"Watch it, monk!" Inuyasha glared at Miroku with a tick mark on his forehead.

"Well, I'm just saying, you never realize it when Kagome's intentionally trying to flirt with you."

"You think she's trying to flirt with me!" Ed's jaw was inches from the ground while he was gawking at Winry _'Why would she want to flirt with me?'_ Ed looked completely dumbfounded.

"I think Miss Winry is infatuated with you, she's come over and blushed about twenty times, and then, retreats back to the other women, probably for encouragement."

"What should I do?"

"Well, Inuyasha and Kagome always go for**_ long_** walks, they always seem to work for them." Miroku smirked at Inuyasha, then his smirk met Inuyasha's fist.

"Idiot." Shippo sat shaking his head.

"Okay, I'll do it." Ed rose and walked towards Winry.

"Ahh, he's coming over here! What do I do!" Winry turned to her friends for help.

"Calm down! You'll know what to do if anything happens."

"What would happen!"

"Well, Kagome what happens when with your walks with Inuyasha?" Sango turned to Kagome with a wide smirk.

"Oh, will you shut up!" Just as Kagome spat that at her friend, Ed walked over and outstretched his hand.

"Uh…um…Winry will you walk with me?"

All she could to answer was nod and take his hand. They held hands as they walked into the woods. Al entered just in time to see the back of them as they went into the woods, hand in hand.

"Where are they going? And why were they holding hands?" Al set down the wood he had retrieved.

"I don't know." Miroku and Sango smirked at eachother, knowing that they had influenced the two. "Why don't you ask Inuyasha and Kagome." Miroku tried to look at Inuyasha only see him blush, and then he got knocked out.

_**With Winry and Ed**_

"Why did you ask me out here?" Winry saw him through the corner of her eye, he was twitching, clearing throat, and he kept fidgeting. "You okay?"

"Ah…um…yeah fine. Um…well, Winry…I…um…like you." He kept his eyes glued to the ground.

"Oh Ed!" She turned and hugged him tight, causing Ed to gasp and blush. "I've liked you, too! I was afraid that you didn't like me! Plus, you were never around for me to say anything." She kissed him lightly on the cheek and pulled away to look at his eyes.

Once she pulled away, Ed pulled her back in to his lips. He held her there, kissing, her for a while. He pulled away this time, but Winry wouldn't allow it, she pulled him back in again.

_**With Al**_

Al had gone out look for "more wood", in reality he was looking for Ed and Winry; he didn't trust them out alone.

"Where are they?" Al turned to notice them in a romantic embrace. "Whoa, this is awkward!" Al turned and ran back to camp, stopping to grab an armful of wood before entering camp again.

"What'd ya see?" Miroku flashed his smirk again.

"Ah…um…nothing." He raised the wood in his arms "I just went to get wood, that's all."

"You and your brother are terrible liars, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

"So, what **did** you see?"

"I'm pretty sure they're on equal ground now, they've reached an understanding."

"And that is?" All the eyes on Al were eager for information.

"THAT KISSING IS NICE!" Al starting laughing while the women and the men high-fived eachother. "It's disgusting just to be in their presence."

"Well, being a peeping-Tom has some consequences!" Ed leapt at his brother, but Al dodged the flying boy and tore for towards the woods. "Come back here, eavesdropper!"

"NO! BROTHER STOP CHASING ME!"

"STOP, DAMMIT!"

"WHAT WILL YOU DO IF I DO!"

"STOP AND YOU'LL OUT, NOW WON'T YOU!"

The rest of the gang watched them run off, once they were out of sight, they all fell over laughing, save for Winry. She went and sat with the women, once they stopped laughing.

"What happened with you two?" Sango smiled and stared at her with eager eyes.

Winry pulled Kagome and Sango close to tell them, leaving her back facing the boys.

"Are you getting all of this, Inuyasha?" Miroku turned and watched him.

As the girls continued to whisper, Inuyasha became a deeper shade of red. "Humans are gross."

"I didn't ask you that! I asked you if you were getting all of this!"

"If Sango doesn't tell you this later, I'll tell you, but you'll have to do something for me!" Inuyasha donned his mischievous smirk.

"Like what?"

"I'll give you your requirements later."

_**With an enemy**_

Sloth walked through her new surroundings, looking around in disgust. _'This is worse than central, there's nothing here.'_ She found the familiar look of one of her companions. "Lust is that you?"

Envy was the first to see her. "Ah, you're here as well, then. Well, all we need is Wrath and Pride and we'll have all the homunculi. Or at least, all the ones that are alive. Gotta tell ya, I don't exactly miss Greed, he was rather annoying…and quite useless to me." Envy rolled his eyes in disgust. "He couldn't even beat the Full Metal one."

"Did you ever think that was because he was fighting alone? Whenever you all fought him, you had companions while he was fighting alone. I do believe that we are underestimating this alchemist. He is not as obedient and loyal as the other ones we dictated over." Sloth crossed her arms in thought.

"Are you letting your connection with the boy interfere with your judgment?" Lust glanced over at her with questioning eyes.

"Never. It's just that, I thought Greed to be quite a strong fighter. And the boy beat him mentally and physically. I'm beginning to think that he's not your average teenager."

"Well, why don't we screw him up a little?" Envy smiled viciously.

"How so?"

"Are you not the homunculi that he made, in the resemblance of his mother?"

"Ah, yes, very wicked, Envy, I think I'll do that. I will see you all later." She turned and waved over her shoulder.

_**At camp**_

Al had returned about en minutes earlier with Ed over his shoulder. Ed was cursing Al with every pant he let out.

"Dumbass…you…shoulda'….stopped!...Now…I…can't…talk!...You…Suck!" Ed let his head rest on Al's armor.

"I was afraid of what you were going to do when I did stop. If you even took the chance to think, you could have stopped me with alchemy, brother."

"Dammit! I knew I forgot something!"

Al set him down between Miroku and Winry. He smiled brightly and waved at Winry, and once Miroku laughed at that, he glared bullets at him.

"What's so funny, lecher?"

"Oh, nothing, Eddie-poo! I would never want to upset you." All the boys snickered at this.

Ed got pissed, clapped his hands, and touched the ground. Once he did so, a large hole formed beneath Miroku and engulfed him while dirt set back on him. The only thing visible was Miroku's head.

"Well, it's good to see you can take a joke." Miroku gained a very pissed-off look on his face.

"Brother!" Al drew a transmutation circle and unburied Miroku.

"Thank you, **AL**!" Miroku glared at Ed, while he laughed at the dust covered monk.

"Traitor." Ed looked at Al with an odd playfulness in his eyes.

"Whatever, Blondie!"

Ed didn't hear his brother's last comment. His attention was fixed on the bush where Sloth had appeared. "…Mom…?"

Sloth smiled mentally, knowing she had gained his attention and turned to leave.

"Wait! Mom!" Ed rose and dashed after her.

"What, wait, Ed!" Al and Winry jumped for him and missed. Al was the first to fly after him. The rest of the Inu- group ran after them as well.


	15. Let Them Go

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter Fifteen

Let Them Go

Ed weaved in and out through the trees of the forest after his mother-look-alike. Al followed calling his name. They were thinking the same thing. _'How is she here? She died and our human transmutation didn't work…or did it?'_

The Inu-gang followed closely with Winry; Win and Kagome on Inuyasha and Shippo, Sango, and Miroku on Kirara.

"Winry, I thought you guys all said that their mom died?" Kagome looked over at Winry to see her crying and with a look of utter shock on her face.

"She did. This isn't her, there's no way. Their transmutation didn't work. Ed said that a monster was created, that wasn't…wasn't…human."

"Hurry up, Inuyasha! We gotta' stop them!"

"You got it! This reeks of Naraku!" Inuyasha and Kirara picked up speed. Once they entered a clearing to see Ed, Al, and Sloth standing off, a barrier stopped them. "Dammit!"

"Ed, get away from her! Al, stop him!" Winry pounded on the barrier until her fists bled.

Her words fell on deaf ears. Ed and Al were both lost in their thoughts and the fact that what seemed to be their mother was right before them.

"Ed, s-she…she died, this can't be her." Al shook Ed's shoulder, but he was in a sort of trance.

"My dear, Alphonse? Don't you remember your own mother? Well…no, I would expect you wouldn't. You obviously didn't love me enough or weren't dedicated enough to bring me back." Once she finished saying this she turned into her water creature form.

All Ed could do was scream in horror. Al tried to keep him from freaking out anymore or falling over, though it was hard enough to control himself, let alone his brother on top of that.

Winry watched helplessly in horror. She saw her love in disarray and saw a face of someone so familiar, mutate into something unthinkable. It was tearing her and everyone else apart.

Sloth regained her face. "Farewell, my sons." With that, she "melted" and slid into the bushes. Once she entered, Envy, Lust, and Gluttony came out.

Ed rose and wiped his tears. "Do you bastards have to ruin everything for us!"

"Well, maybe. Who next would you like to see die? Your father? Mustang? Or maybe…Hughes? Of course, the last one wouldn't be any fun."

"And why not!" Ed grew worried.

"Because, I already killed him when you left Central after the Lab 5 incident."

Ed stumbled with this. "You're lying!"

"No, actually, I turned into Maria Ross, I believe you know her, and led him out of the building. Once he realized I wasn't her, I changed into his wife and shot him." Envy smiled guiltlessly, he was greatly enjoying torturing the boy.

"You sick bastard! He was married! He had a little girl! You killed her father and my friend!" Ed transmuted his arm into a blade and took his fighting stance. "Come get me you sick son of a bitch! Come fight me unless you're scared!"

"Now, now. We need not be so hasty; it seems we have something against you!" Ed turned to check on Al only to Gluttony biting off his arm as Envy held him back in the form of Armstrong.

"Al! Let him go! He's my little brother!" Ed's eyes started to tear; he couldn't stand the thought of losing his little brother again.

"Brother, don't worry!" Al was still attempting to fight off the muscular man while his other arm was eaten.

Ed clapped his hands and created a box around Al to hold off the homunculi a little while longer. "I'm your enemy, not him, he didn't do anything! Fight me and if you're going to hurt anyone, hurt me, I'm your opponent!"

"Aww, how touching, he wants to save everyone, save for himself." Naraku came out of the bushes laughing maniacally.

"Naraku, you bastard, you leave Ed and Al alone!" Inuyasha unleashed another wind scar and finally broke the barrier. "Fight me, leave them alone!"

"Yet another hero, how touching!" Naraku spout some roots from beneath his cloak.

"Are you **still** not man enough to fight me in person? Do you still have to use your golems? Well then, BRING IT ON PUPPET-BOY!" Inuyasha activated another Wind-Scar and destroyed the golem. He turned to see Ed losing to two homunculi.

"Inuyasha! Get Al and run…!" Ed's sentence was interrupted with a nail going through his shoulder. Gluttony came over, tripped him and bit his leg, melting the lower portion.

"Ed!" Al had drawn a transmutation circle on the box wall and melted them down. "Get out of there!"

"I can't frickin walk! My leg is gone!" Ed stumbled backwards, pushing himself towards the woods. Kagome shot an arrow, leaving the homunculi in disarray while Winry ran forward and grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back. "Get out of here Idiot! You can get hurt!" Just as he finished saying that, Lust's nail went through her arm. "Winry! You bastard!" Ed grabbed Winry's wrench and a rock and made himself a make-shift foot and charged Lust. She dodged many of his moves, while a couple of his met her arms and stomach, many of her attacks me Ed in full force.

"You little rat!"

"Stop calling me little, size doesn't matter!" He saw an opening and took it. He ran her through.

"Here come my friends!" She fell over injured as Gluttony came over.

"What have you done to my Lust! You little bastard!" He lunged for his arm, Ed swerved and sliced his arm.

"Elric! Move!" Ed jumped out of the way as Inuyasha activated another Wind- Scar. But, the homunculi moved as well. They fled off into the forest.

"Winry? Are you okay!" Ed grabbed her and shook her lightly.

Winry flashed him a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. My arm hurts a little though." She giggled a little.

"Don't worry, Win! I can fix that." Kagome flew to her side with her medic bag. She pulled out some antibacterial cream and some numbing lotion to ease her pain. "I have some for you, as well, Ed."

"Naw, Let's set up camp after you take care of Winry." He rose, but quickly fell when his "foot" crumbled beneath him. "Well, at least your automail holds up better than mine."

Winry laugh aloud at this. "Nice attempt though. But, the ankle obviously didn't function well enough. Uh, Ed…?"

"Yeah...?"

"Could you change it back to a wrench?" Winry blushed and looked at the ground in embarrassment.

Ed did what he was told, but he made an alteration. He added writing to it. Winry noticed this and read it aloud.

"Ed loves Winry." She blushed and smiled brightly. She turned and hugged him with one arm. "And Winry loves Ed, too!" She giggled while Ed blushed. Al and the other men laughed at him.

Al started singing "Love is in the Air!" and Ed transmuted a large fist witch rose out of the ground and took him high into the air. "Ah! Brother, PUT ME DOWN!" He drew a circle and did the same to Ed.

"Dammit, Al!" He clapped his hands and knocked the chalk out of his hands. "Let's see you fight now!"

Al pulled out another piece of chalk and drew another circle which made the fist clench around Ed, separating his hands and putting pressure on Ed's wounds, causing him to pale, get dizzy, and cringe in pain. "Brother…? Ed…?" Al drew another circle which caused the hand to set Ed down, he drew another which set him down. "Are you okay?"

Ed attempted to rise into his sitting position, with much effort. "Yeah, fine. Can we just set up camp and get my leg fixed? We also have to find some metal and fix you as well, Al."

"If I have to, I can go back to my era and get some scrap metal." Kagome enjoyed the thought of going to a junk yard with Inuyasha to steel a car door off some old piece of junk car.

"Yeah, I think you might have to, if that won't be a problem."

"No, Inuyasha and I aught to be able to find something."

"Why do I have to come!" Inuyasha glared over at her.

"Because 'I'll take too long' or 'I might go to school' at 11 o'clock at night. And besides, I need your help. For the method I'm thinking about using to get the metal, I'll need your help…most definitely." Kagome nodded to herself. "Plus you might make a new friend!"

"Fine, we'll be back later." Inuyasha picked Kagome up bridal style and flew off into the woods in the direction of the bone eater's well.


	16. Auto Mail Repairs and a Junk Yard Heist

**Disclaimer: You know, I rule, but not to the point of Rumiko Takahashi or Hiromu Arakawa….They are gods in my mind (me bowing and worshiping shrines of them. "I LOVE YOU!")**

Chapter Sixteen

Auto Mail Repairs and a Junk Yard Heist

Inuyasha had been running for a while, carrying Kagome on his back. "Who am I going to make friends with?"

"Hmm…?" Kagome hadn't been paying attention, she was too busy thinking about the heist she and Inuyasha were about to pull off.

"Before, you said I was going to make a new friend. Who is it?"

Kagome blushed. "Now, don't get mad, it was a joke, but there's a dog at the place where we're going to get the metal." She smiled sweetly.

Inuyasha wasn't going to give. "Will you stop treating me like a dog!"

She pet his ears, stroking his ears and scratching them slightly. Causing him to calm and slow his pace to a stop.

Kagome sat on his back gawking at him from his odd reaction, but she didn't stop.

Kagome's giggling knocked him out of his reverie. Though, contrary to the usual Inuyasha, he didn't yell. He sat and let her continue, but he started to walk again, but only walking. "What were you girls talking about earlier that made you leave us for so long?"

He startled her, causing her to stop and pull her hands away from his ears. "Nothing much, we were getting to know Winry."

"What about her? I didn't get the chance to talk to her, what's she like?"

"I know that she and Ed are in love, she's an auto mail mechanic, and she's rather humorous."

"What else did you guys talk about?" Inuyasha looked down at her.

She averted her gaze and looked at the ground.

"Well?"

"…relationships."

"Between whom?"

"Sango and Miroku, her and Ed… and you and me." She looked up into his eyes, looking for acceptance.

He pulled her into another kiss. "Sounds like a good conversation." He looked at her with loving eyes. "We're almost at the well; do you want to stop at your house before we get the metal?"

"No, they'll get mad if we tell them why we're back."

"Where should I head when I get out of the well?"

"Head east, from what I've seen and what my mother's told me there is an older junk yard with **loads** of junky old cars, but there is a dog that protects the area."

Inuyasha leapt without yielding at all into the well. As soon as his feet met the ground, he leapt out into the well's shrine house. He flew out quickly and made it down the stairs leading to the shrine in three jumps. He sped off toward the east. "Alright, you gotta tell me when we're getting close, okay…?"

"Can't you smell the dog?" She was a little unsure of where it was, especially because they were in the dark.

"There's gotta be more than one dog in Tokyo!"

"Fine calm down! You don't gotta bite my head of, you know? …It should be the next place on your left." She crossed her arms in annoyance.

He slowed, turned around and smiled at her. "Thanks, Kagome."

She blushed deeply. She looked away from his face. For some reason that was unknown to her, she could never look at the people that make her blush through flattery.

They reached the junk yard to find a very pissed off dog barking fiercely at anything that moved. "You think he's rabid?"

"What's that mean?"

"Oh, god." She put her hand to her head, seeming to be looking for energy to draw out of some unknown source. The dog leapt up at the fence, ready to mar the people standing on the other side of the fence that was saving the world from it. "Inuyasha, I'm really sorry about this, but dogs seem to listen when I say this…SIT!" Not only did the dog sit without a second thought, but Inuyasha also got the oh-so rare feeling of kissing the ground.

He decided not to say anything, in fear of pissing off the dog again, but instead, he decided to send a death glare towards Kagome.

She responded to his death glare with a sweet smile. "Hey, it worked, didn't it? We should get the metal and some tools. The tools we can lift from home before we leave, but we have to get as much metal as we can carry for now." She hopped over the fence, pet the dog gingerly on the head, and started putting scrap metal into her bag. Inuyasha rose, glared at the dog, causing it to whimper, and started grabbing things like car doors and cutting them in half with his claws. After about ten minutes of gathering, Kagome realized with how much Inuyasha had gathered, they would be able to build a metal home. "Let's head back, will you be able to carry all of that?"

Instead of responding with words, Inuyasha chose to big up the humongous pile of metal with one hand.

"Whatever, wise-ass!" She spat as she struggled with her bag full of metal scraps. Inuyasha came over and grabbed her bag from her, then continued walking towards the fence and jumped it. Kagome sighed in defeat and scaled the fence with a little more difficulty.

They walked next to eachother the entire way back to the shrine in silence, but it was a pleasant silence. They would look over at eachother occasionally and smile sweetly. Once they reached the shrine, Kagome went into the house to grab a duffle bag and fill it with the tools that she thought would be necessary. She carried this one with difficulty as well, but Inuyasha didn't have anymore free hands, so she had to tough it out. They both had a little trouble getting in and out of the well, but that was to be expected considering the load that they were currently baring. They wandered back to where the others were camped.

Winry was the first to notice them. "Holy hell! That aught to be **more** than enough for Ed and me. Plus, we could also build a small building with an elegant water garden and a bullet proof wall surrounding it."

"Wow, that was sarcastic. You're starting to act like Ed, a.k.a. captain cynical." Al's statement was met by a chilling glare from both Ed and Winry. His reaction was to wave at them innocently.

"Where do you want these?" Inuyasha was getting impatient.

"Um, over between Ed and Al should be fine." Inuyasha and Kagome did what they were told. "Kagome, did you bring tools?"

Kagome opened the bag, revealing not only hand tools but electric ones as well, much to Winry's pleasure.

Ed automatically sent a scrutinizing eye toward Winry. "Winry!" She flinched, she knew what she was in for.

She smiled over at him innocently. "Yes…?"

"Don't take the tools apart until either Kagome says it's okay or until you're done with the procedure." He glared towards her.

She smiled manically. "Well Ed, judging from the damage on your leg; I have to remove it, start from scratch and reattach it, lucky your arm isn't busted as well, or you would be in serious pain." She finished with an evil smirk.

Ed turned ghost white. "Can't I just transmute a new leg?"

"Not if you want it to work."

Ed fell backwards in defeat and sighed dramatically. Miroku turned to Al in confusion.

"All of Ed's nerves have to be attached to the mechanism. It is a very painful process for brother to undergo. It takes a lot of his strength." Al looked to his brother with pity-filled eyes.

"Sounds painful! Good luck, Ed!" Miroku gave Ed a "thumbs up", immediately pissing him off, so he buried him…again. "It's good to see your sense of humor has improved." He spat derisively, Al unburied him again.

"Al, do you want me to fix you first?" Ed looked over at his brother with interest.

"Whatever, as long as I get fixed eventually."

Ed took that as a yes and requested that Inuyasha move him next to Al along with some metal. Ed touched the ground closest to Al and the metal and fixed his brother instantly. Al marveled at his repaired body and gave brother a "thumbs up".

"Thanks, brother!" He moved his arms to check his condition. "Very good… good as new!"

Winry turned to Ed with a sad smile. "Your turn."

The group prepared a cot in a tent for Ed to rest in and a desk- like structure for Winry to work at with a flashlight over it for her to work.

Winry removed the leg, with didn't cause much pain, but Ed had faith that the night could only get worse for him from there.

Winry had taken the measurements and had already started working on the new leg. Kagome and Sango had done all they could to help, but they didn't really understand what Winry was doing, so they mostly kept the boys occupied. Ed was allowed to stay near the fire until Winry needed him, so he wasn't completely bored. He was sitting next to Miroku and Inuyasha, while Sango and Kagome sat on the other side of the fire. Al and Shippo were sitting between the two groups around the fire. They were talking about random things for a hour or so before Winry beckoned Ed in for the leg, Al helped him in.

"Alphonse, go fetch some cool water and ask Kagome for a rag; Ed'll need it when I attach the leg."

Ed looked up from his spot on the cot. "You know, that's really reassuring to hear. You make this all sound **so** promising." He sent Winry an icy glare.

"Yeah, but this time, we don't have anything to dull the pain, no IVs, no nothing. So it'll be close to how it felt when you reattached your arm when you saved me from Barry the Butcher. Sorry."

"It's okay, it's not like we have many options here." He managed a weak smile for reassurance. "Let's get this over with."

Al returned and Winry soaked the rag and placed in on Ed's forehead. "Here we go. Get ready, Edward."

Ed stiffened in preparation for the pain. As soon as Winry attached the mechanism, a pain-filled scream filled the forest and chilled the air. Ed shuddered in pain and paled to a nauseating white. Sweat bullets started to form on his face and body. The Inu group peaked in to see Ed in dreadful condition. Al walked out of the tent and set himself up near the fire. He felt terrible that there was nothing that he could do to ease his brother's pain. The best thing for Ed at that point was to sleep and recover to regain strength. The others nestled themselves back around the fire, all save for Ed and Winry.

"Isn't Winry going to come out?" Sango noticed something was amiss with Al.

"No, she always stays near Ed during his limb replacements and repairs. She likes to keep a close eye on him." Al's gaze remained focused on the fire.

Kagome could tell he pitied his brother. "Well, he'll be out soon, right? Besides, there's nothing we can do for Ed right now; just has to rest up a little bit. He'll be fine." Kagome added a supportive smile to the end.

Al nodded somberly. He knew that what she had said was true, but he still felt bad about his brother's current condition. He desperately wanted to help him.


	17. Nightmares

**Disclaimer: You know, I am miserable that they make me do this; I know that I own nothing, but making me admit it is just depressing.**

Chapter Seventeen

Nightmares

Ed lay on the bed with a pained expression on his face. The automail replacements always did this to him. They led him into dreams that could only be described as horrifying.

Ed's nightmare

Ed and Al sat in the lower room of their old house; the room their mother told them was off limits. They had all of the supplies set up for the Human Transmutation that they would attempt, only to lose a body, an arm, and a leg. But, it was different, it felt different to him, they weren't young boys like before. This time, Al was fourteen and he was fifteen, but who could they be reviving? All seemed to be in order.

"Are you ready, Brother?" Ed turned and was met by his brother's sweet smile, this time he wore a very confident smile.

"Who are we reviving, Al?"

Al chuckled. "I thought you wouldn't ever forget her, I thought you loved her? She was your girlfriend."

Ed's jaw dropped. "No…? Winry…?" Al nodded. "How did she die?"

"The homunculi got her." Al's head lowered.

"How are you human again?"

"We did it! You're back to normal, as well."

Ed raised his hands and raised his pant leg. "We shouldn't be doing this again; it didn't work the first time, why would it work now?"

"Because…" Al revealed a gleaming stone in his hand. "We have the stone. Plus, with your increased powers from the Lab 5 incident, we should do fine! Alright, are you ready?"

"As ready as I can be." The boys clapped their hands in unison and touched the complex array which contained the components of the human body.

A bright light enveloped the room; striking everything around them, including the boys. Every time the light touched them, a searing pain flew through them in that area. The components started to take form, twisting and turning in a foreboding fashion. "Al, something's not right, this is too much like last time!"

"Don't give up brother, don't stop!" One of the lights clamped onto Al's body.

"NO AL!" Al's body started dematerializing; he was melting before his eyes. "AL! Not again, please…! Not my little brother! I have lost everyone else, but not him too!"

The deed was done, Al was gone and Ed was left weeping on the floor.

"E-Ed-w-ward…?" A hand rose above some mist

"W-Winry?" He rose and walked over to her side, she closely resembled the body of his mother after her transmutation, but this time, it seemed gorier, there was more blood and muscles showing, the face of the form looked as if was beaten, it was only half covered with flesh. "NO! NOT AGAIN!" He fell to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. He grabbed some chalk from a shelf and drew an array around him and the freshly created monster. "I want Al back, please, GIVE HIM BACK!" He clenched the stone in his hand, causing the sharp edges to dig into his skin, making him bleed.

The light returned, this time bringing his to The Gate. There was a figure waiting for him, it was Greed. "G-Greed? Why are you here?"

He made some motions with his hand. "Apparently, I'm now the Guardian of this hell sent place. Why are you here?"

"Give me Al back…" He made a motion towards the fleshy monster. "And take this and however much of my body that you need, but make him human."

Greed smiled mischievously. "Whatever you say, chief." A bright light enveloped the monster and Ed, all he could hear a shriek of pain coming from the monster and Greed's maniacal laughter. A figure started forming in front of him, he was almost complete. A sickening pain started burning in his right arm and left leg. Al's face started to form and look at him with astonishment.

"B-Brother…?" He looked to Ed's bloody stumps. "What did you do, Brother, What did you do?"

It was getting harder and harder for Ed's gaze to remain on his brother, he was going in and out of focus, and Al seemed to realize this. "No, Ed, don't leave me Please, don't leave me!" His hand went out to him. Ed raised his left arm, but noticed it dematerializing in front of him. "NO, EDWARD! DON'T GO!"

Ed struggled to get with his brother, his body was leaving him. "AL!"

End

Ed rose with a jerk, causing him to fall off the cot, sending sickening pain through his body making him scream in pain. Winry flew into the tent, just the sight of her caused Ed to start to cry. "Y-You're okay…? You're okay? Al…?"

Winry just gawked at him. "We're both fine, are you okay? How did you get on the ground? Let me help you up." She grabbed his flesh arm and helped him into the bed. She grabbed another wet cloth and put her hand on his forehead. "Ed, you have a terrible fever! You have to go back to sleep, I'll ask Kagome if she has any pain relievers." She turned to leave, but Ed grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Please, just stay with me, at least until I fall back asleep…?"

She nodded and sat down next to the cot, resting one hand on his cheek and the other fiddling with his hair. His breathing soon came in even and slow breathes. She still didn't leave him; she didn't want him to have another nightmare. Al came in and sat next to Winry.

"Is he alright now?"

"He had a nightmare, it really shook him up. He has a horrible fever; it's messing with his head. He was concerned about both of us when he woke."

"I'll stay with him if you want to go and sit by the fire…?"

"Okay." She bent down and kissed his forehead and left. She walked out with a blank face and sat down next to Kagome; who put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"How is he doing?"

"Not much better; his fever had worsened and he is having nightmares. This is much worse than the other times this has happened."

"Maybe it is because he is in worse condition…? Do you want me to dress his wounds; I might have some pain relieving cream?"

"That might help him; I'll come in and help." Se rose with a depressed face and headed back to the tent.

Miroku turned to Inuyasha and Sango with a sad smirk. "It seems the moods of Alphonse and Winry depend on the physical condition of Edward."

"He doesn't even realize this, I don't think."

Inuyasha shook his head. "It's rather amusing because they both get very fed up with him, but without him, they seem as though there is nothing in their lives that can make them happy."

Al didn't leave his spot next to Ed when the women walked in; he didn't even look up.

"Do you mind if we redress Edward's wounds?"

"No, as long as it makes him feel better."

Winry checked the "joints" connecting Ed's flesh to his automail while Kagome checked his injuries and rubbed antiseptic pain relieving cream on them. "His wounds are healing fine, how are his 'joints' doing, Winry?"

"They are redder than usual and a little swelled. But, there is no sign of infection."

Al looked over to them. "So, he's fine, but, how is it that he's doing worse than usual, what can be the cause of his nightmares?"

"I couldn't tell you. Maybe there's poison in his system?"

­­­­

Winry didn't sleep well, all she could think about was Ed, and all she wanted was for him to be well again. She slept next to him that night. Her sleep was restless.

Winry's dream

Winry walked around in a dark alleyway. She saw a blond boy running in the street at the end of the alley, after him were a slender female figure, a stout male figure, and a slender male. She recognized the blond as Ed.

"Ed!" She ran after them, trying to get to her love.

They stopped in front of a building, all of them in their battle stances, Ed opposing the other three.

"Your life ends here military slime. We'll wipe you from the face of this planet if you still refuse to make the Stone for us."

"Come get me then, you bastards. Anything that involves taking lives, I refuse!" He spat defiantly.

"What difference would it make, you've killed before, there's no turning back now." Lust smiled, showing her craving teeth.

"I've killed to fight in defense against those attacking me! You bastards have killed for no apparent reason. You killed Hughes; you killed the guards in Lab 5, and so many more! Hughes did nothing, he had a family, he was important to many, and you have no idea what kind of hell you put all the people that were important to him through! And the guard in Lab 5, he was starting to be a good man, he was helping people, he had even admitted his faults!"

"He was a shell of what he was before, we did him a favor."

"Wrong! He wasn't a shell, he was still the same! He had the same soul; he was like Al. AND YOU KILLED HIM, LIKE YOU WERE GOING TO KILL AL!" He charged them, his hand already a blade, but Lust's nails beat him to it, they pierced through his stomach.

A boy in dark clothes came from the shadows. Winry recognized him as Wrath. Wrath chuckled at the boy's current state. "Don't worry, when you die, I'll take care of **your** body, or should I say **my** body." He smiled as the boy started to thrash about. He pulled out a knife and neared the impaled boy. His knife ripped through the boy's flesh, he laughed as Ed screamed in pain.

End

Winry gasped as she ended her horrifying dream, she turned to find Ed looking at her with concern.

"Are you okay, Win? Sounded like you were having a nightmare." She nodded. "You too, huh? Why don't you come in bed with me?" He moved over, allowing space for her to fit on the cot next to him. He put his left arm out in replace of a pillow for her to put her head on. She slid in next to him and cuddled close to him; but, she didn't use his arm as a pillow, she used his chest.

He looked at her and blushed a little, but did not fight her, instead he pulled her closer with his arm and held her tight around the shoulders, making her feel as though nothing could touch her.

At the Campfire

Miroku and Inuyasha kept sending questioning glances toward the tent, Kagome and Sango seemed to be picking upon their suspicions.

Kagome stretched and turned towards Sango and the boys with a small smirk on her face. "Boy, Winry's been in there a long time! Wonder what she's doing…"

Al turned towards her and sighed. "In the current state Ed's in, he couldn't even kiss her if he tried. He's completely run down."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and sighed. "You humans are a bore. What could lay him up for so long? By the way, how long is it going to take until he can function again?"

"A couple of days."

"A COUPLE OF DAYS! Are you serious? Why is it going to take so damn long?"

Kagome glared at him and smacked him sharply on the arm. "Inuyasha! His nerves are attached to his metal limbs. Think about it this way…It's like you being in your human form and having your left leg and arm removed at the same time and put back on to heal." Everybody cringed at that image.

"Okay…nevermind."


	18. Choices

**Disclaimer: I only own what I write….sigh and what I own sucks….T-T**

**I'm glad that y'all seem to enjoy my story. So far…I've only got like one flame…I was depressed, but not everyone likes the same thing but quite a few of you people seem to really enjoy this, so I will continue writing. Oh, and for the Envy thing…I thought I fixed it on the website…apparently not, though. If you like this…tell me. Also, if you want me to do something, as in you get an idea for this story (that won't make me cry) I'll try it out. Tell me whatever, I'll even listen to your problems…I'll be a psychiatrist! YAY!**

Chapter Eighteen

Choices

Morning came quickly. The only one's who got any sleep that was worth anything was Ed and Winry (**A/N: Wonder why… ;), I'm nasty…-**). Because nobody else slept well, they (mostly Inuyasha) were cranky.

"When the hell can we leave!" Inuyasha was yelling without any cares of who heard him.

"Inuyasha, SIT! You are so rude! He is injured, so you have to be patient and wait." Kagome was glaring bullets at the hanyou on the ground until she noticed Ed limping out of the tent. "Edward! You really shouldn't be up and walking, should you?" She put her hands on her hips in a know-it-all fashion.

Ed shook his head somberly, but looked up at her with a new fire. "I'm holding everyone up! We should be traveling and we're just sitting here and it's my fault!" He looked down at Inuyasha with an expressionless demeanor. "I don't wish to hinder you any longer. I've over stayed my welcome, I'm being a burden. I'll stay until I recover…alone."

"No, that's insane!" Kagome's eyes were burying themselves into his.

"Well, it's either that or we leave now. I will not hold you guys back. Those are the choices, I either stay back alone and catch up with you guys in a couple days or we head out now and ignore me and my 'injuries'…I'm fine." Ed's expression showed that he would not give up on this cause.

Al walked up and put a hand on Ed's shoulder. "I'll stay with Brother."

Ed looked at him with defiance. "What are you, an idiot! I said I'm staying alone! You have to go with them and find a way for us to get home to Central or Resembool or somewhere even Ishbal, we have to get home and fix you and stop the homunculi and Scar!"

"And what are you going to do? Sit here injured and get yourself killed! Do you even care about your physical state! We all worry about you! Even Mustang! He must be sick by now; he was soo worried about you and Al! Now he's gotta be freaking because I was his only connection to you and he was hoping that maybe I would find you, we all were hoping for that. And now that I've found you, you're still trying to get yourself killed!" Winry turned and ran into the tent with Kagome on her heels.

Ed fell backwards and sat there dumbfounded. He never intended for anyone to worry about him. Too many people did. Rose, Winry, Pinako, Mustang, Russell, Fletcher, and even the other Military subordinates.

In the tent

Winry was already lying on her stomach on the cot weeping into the pillow as Kagome walked in.

"Winry?" She sat on the cot next to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Its okay, Winry, men are fools. They'll risk it all to keep those they cherish safe."

"Why is he so selfish? And moronic!"

"Well, I…" Kagome stopped talking when she noticed Ed walk into the tent.

"Um…Kagome, can have some alone time with Winry?" His eyes never left their gaze on the floor.

Kagome nodded and left after giving Ed a warning glare. He shivered slightly but kept his ground with an expressionless face.

After Kagome left, Ed took her place next to Winry on the cot. "Winry…I…" He reached out to put his hand on her shoulder, but she moved forward. "I'm sorry. I love you; I just want to keep you safe. I never want you to get hurt again and have it be my fault. That's why I was trying to send you away. That way, you and Al could return to Central and you both could be safe."

"I'd rather be with you." She turned to face him with a somber face.

He pulled her into a tight hug. "I love you so much."

Outside

Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Al, and Shippo sat with their ears stuck to the flaps of the tent door. Inuyasha lounged on the other side of camp inspecting his blade, considering seeing Totosai to have it honed again. There was no real reason to have honed again, but he was bored out of his skull just sitting there.

"Y'all are going to get into trouble if they see you there." Inuyasha didn't look up as he said that. Something came flying at him and took him out. He stood and yelled. "Ya' know what, what the hell ever!" He stomped off in a very pissed off manner and leapt into the top of a tree. The others continued eavesdropping.

Inside

Winry rested her head on Ed's lap. He sat there shameless and stroked her hair. It calmed her. They sat there in silence.

"What do plan to do?"

"When?"

"Now…when we return to Central and Resembool…the rest of your life…whenever."

"I plan to tell off those who piss me off, namely Mustang, and find something else to do with the rest of my life."

"Now, when have you ever held back from telling Mustang off?"

"True. But for now, I think we should head out tomorrow since none of y'all will let me do what I want to do."

"Sounds good to me."

Outside

"Did you hear what Brother just said! We'll get to leave tomorrow and he'll be coming and that should be enough time for him to return to full strength!" Al danced in a mini circle happily.

Ed stumbeled out of the tent and hurlled himself at Al, who stated screaming frantically as his brother hit him and mid-pirouet. "DAMMIT, AL! IF YOU'RE GOING TO EAVESDROP, AT LEAST DO IT QUIETLY! IT WAS VERY HARD FOR ME TO IGNORE YOU IN THERE! IT'S A TENT, NOT LAB 5 WITH CINDER WALLS!"

"I have to eavesdrop because you never tell me anything!" Screamed Al as he was running a foot in front of his brother.

"I tell you what I have to!"

Al stopped quickly and turned around abruptly. "That's what I mean by nothing, you always tell that you'll tell me something, byt you never do. When Mustang breifs you on what you have to do for a mission, I never have any idea on what's goin gon because you never tell me. Like when Nna and Alexander when missing, I found out what had happened just as you told Tucker you knew what had happened! You always hold responsibilities, you never fill me in on anything."

Ed kept his head down and his gaze toward the ground. "I'm sorry. I wanted to protect you. I felt Nina was my responsibilty because she called me 'big- brother'. I kept imaging that it was you that it had happened to. I just wanted to keep you and her safe. I failed her and I didn't want to fail you that's why I was so much more protective afterwe left Tucker's. I just want to protect you. Always."


	19. Let's Talk

**Disclaimer: Don't eat the chicken………………………………Oh! And I don't own any of the characters from this story….wait…maybe I should make one up. Oh, and if they're selling anime characters, I either want Night from Absolute Boyfriend or Vash from Trigun! They're mine! Them or Miroku, Inuyasha is too hot headed. Too much like me….Just send me a hot, nice, and funny guy. Lecher or not. Lecher would add some excitement. Wait….that happens in school. Then he'd be jealous! Jealous men are fun!**

**So I went to this concert with a bunch of different bands, regretfully, they were all pop bands and I am a rock fan….T-T, well, for this one group who I have never heard of (Josh Houg (sp)), I was sending telepathic messages to the good-looking bass player to look at me because I looked really hot in my new skirt and tank and I wanted to give the flirty eyes, but instead, I get the main singer (Josh Houg apparently). I was sick, he looked scary when he was singing and he kept looking at me. The two guys I was with kept laughing (sick bastards); I mean the guy was giving the 'come hither' finger. I was frightened. I spent forty dollars to be horrified. Oh, but I did make my ex jealous! He was flirting with me all day! ANYTHING TO MAKE HIM DROOL! Man, he's such a whiner. **

**Does anyone know if Al had his full memories after the last episode? Like, did he remember the last five years? And, how old was he, fifteen? Oh and when is Al's birthday? They bring up Ed's twice during the show, but never Al's, what up wit that?**

**Kikyo is dead, but Inuyasha still loves her. Love isn't that easy to forget. **

Chapter Nineteen

Let's talk

The group set out early the next day with all of the members. Much to Ed's dismay, he had to ride on Kirara all day. His protests were ignored. After a while he just stopped talking all together.

"Are you alright, Brother? You haven't said anything in a while." Al looked back to see his brother in full pout.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Well, if you weren't going to listen to me when I was talking before, I didn't think that you were going to listen to me now."

Al sighed. "Stop it, Ed. You wouldn't listen to someone **constantly **whining either. Stop your crying and act like a big boy, you're not ten."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Yeah but he could pull it off as a ten year old."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT ME DOG-BOY! WHEN I LOOK AT YOU I DON'T KNOW WHETHER TO THROW A STICK OR CALL THE POUND!" Ed rose from Kirara when he was yelling.

Inuyasha spun around with his hand on Tetsusiaga's hilt and made his way towards Ed. "Lousy midget, I'm gonna kill you!"

Kagome cocked an eyebrow. "Inuyasha, SIT! You started it anyways, bite your tongue and deal with it."

Ed laughed. "HAH, if a woman could control me with such ease, I wouldn't be so impulsive."

Winry came from behind and hit him with her wrench, knocking him out cold. "Yes you would."

Al shook his head at the stupidity of his brother. It became clear to him that he and Inuyasha had too many similarities. Ed woke in about five minutes and sat there quietly, careful not to upset Winry or anyone else. Inuyasha stopped dead in his tracks and sniffed the air while looking around suspiciously.

Kagome looked over at him with concern. "Something wrong, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha nodded and looked up, pointing at a flying feather. "…Kagura. I'll be back." He leapt to the top of a tree in front of Kagura. "Hello, Kagura, going somewhere?"

She smiled sweetly. "Hello, half- breed. Why do you ask?"

"I'm curious as to what evil you are doing for that **scum** Naraku."

"What would make you think that I would abide by his instructions? The only reason I half-ass listen to him is so he doesn't kill me before I get the chance to fly free in the wind I control."

Inuyasha smirked. "Not a very obedient servant, are you?" He glared. "If you want him dead, why don't you tell me where Naraku's castle is, hmmm?"

She shook her head "It would be too obvious." She looked down and noticed Kanna watching her interact with Inuyasha. "I'm sorry, but I'm being watched, I can't tell you anything and now I have to show the fake pretense of _trying_ to kill you. I'm sorry." She took out her fan. "Dance of blades."

Inuyasha dove for the ground near everyone else. "Run! Kagura is coming and Kanna is near by." He looked to Kagome. "Watch out for that mirror, Kagome. Destroy it if possible." He looked to the men. "Save yourselves and the women. Don't worry about me, Kagura **won't** kill me, she wants me to kill Naraku, she wouldn't give up her freedom." Kagura's blades came down between Inuyasha and the group. "Bitch! Watch for the mortals!" He unsheathed his blade and flew above the trees. "Watch it, if you send something at me, I'll just send it back at you."

Kagura shook her head. "I'm going to send an attack at you, just, please hit me with a _milder_ attack."

"I'm not making any promises! Wind Scar!"

Kagura allowed herself to be partly hit and flew off with her clothes in shreds. "Meet me in the town of Ojici; I'll have **someone** fill you in."

Inuyasha raised his blade. "Don't kill anyone or it'll mean your life!"

Kagura looked back with a smirk. "I'll look around for someone who's already dead."

Inuyasha watched her fly off and jumped down from the trees. He looked around and ran in the direction of the group's scents. He found the in a stand-off with Kanna. Miroku, Ed, Al, and Kirara stood in front of the women and Shippo. Inuyasha ran next to the men. "What did I miss?"

Miroku smirked. "Nothing yet, this is what we have been doing, we're waiting for her attack."

Ed seemed to focus on something. "What's up with that mirror?"

Inuyasha covered his eyes. "Idiot, don't look into it, she'll steal your soul."

Winry walked up from behind the men and started walking toward Kanna. Sango and Kagome tackled her to the ground.

Sango slapped her face. "Winry, what the hell are you doing?" She looked into Winry's eyes. "Guys, Kanna has her soul!"

Ed looked outraged; he transmuted his arm into a blade and ran towards Kanna.

Miroku yelled after him. "That won't work; she has a shield around her!"

Kagome shot an arrow, hitting the mirror square in the middle, releasing a burst of light and cracking the mirror. The light enveloped Winry and sent Kanna flying upward, having her land on a feather, and fly off.

Ed knelt next to Winry and shook her shoulder lightly. "Hey, Win…? Are you okay, Win?"

She opened her eyes slightly to see eight pairs of eyes on her. "What happened and why are you all looking at me like that?" She sat up and looked around. "Where's the small girl in white?"

Ed looked at her critically. "She's gone; she tried to steal your soul in her mirror."

Winry looked surprised. "Oh, well, if that's all."

Ed glared at her attempted nonchalance. "Winry, you need to learn how to better protect yourself!"

She yelled defiantly. "I'm sorry, I didn't learn how to fight in combat by a personal teacher for a year on an island and unlike you; I have not been running around our country fighting random threats!" She got up quickly and tried to get away from him. He grabbed her arm to hold her back.

"Winry, that's not what I'm saying. Do you know any way to protect yourself?"

She looked confused.

"…guns, swords, numb chucks…anything?" He looked desperate.

She sighed. "Make me a gun and I'll protect myself. I have fairly good aim. I mean, what's the difference between rubber bands and bullets." She laughed, not expecting him to know how to make a gun, but was shocked to see him grab a piece of metal from his bag and make it into hand gun, much resembling Hawkeye's. She smacked the back of his head sharply. "Where the hell did you learn how to make a gun!"

He smiled sheepishly. "Um…ah…let's just say it's a newly acquired skill." He looked to Al as they both faked laughs.

Winry sighed and rubbed her head. "If you keep thrusting yourself into these dangerous situations, you'll need two more automail limbs. With the way you're acting, one would guess that you had a metal brain." She sighed again and looked away. "With so much weight hanging off of you, you'll never grow…not even another inch."

Al had to hold Ed back from attacking Winry. Ed calmed and thrusted the gun towards her. "I'll make you more bullets later." He walked away with Al following.

Everyone started setting up camp after Winry had woken. The battle had taken longer that expected.

After Al and Ed had wandered a safe distance from camp, Al decided to pry into Ed's sudden bad mood. "Brother, why are suddenly so moody?"

Ed looked at Al like he was an idiot. "I don't like the idea of Winry in battle! She shouldn't have to protect herself! That should be my job!"

Al (mentally) smiled and laughed. "Brother, you take on **way** too many responsibilities! Winry is capable of protecting herself. She thinks too much like you!"

Ed scoffed and turned back towards camp.

Al watched his brother his brother leave suspiciously. "And where do you think you're going?"

Ed shrugged as he continued walking. "Back to camp; you bore me."

Al was aghast. "I'm the boring one! You are the one who would rather sit in a library reading alchemy books instead of playing with Nina, Alexander, and I in the courtyard during the snow or even your birthday."

Ed continued walking. Stopping just before camp to see Winry firing rounds into a fallen tree with a target scratched into it with a knife. All of her rounds hit the target, all in the areas labeled 5 to 1 (10 being the worst, 1 being the best). She cursed silently as she ran out of bullets. Ed looked to her with a smirk on his face. "You'll never get a man with a mouth like that, or at least not a man of any value."

She put her hand on her hip. "I'm not too worried about that. I think that if I want a good man, I'll have to act like myself all of the time, if a man likes that and is drawn in, great, if not, I'll have to go to _certain_ circumstances to get the man **I** want."

Ed stole the gun and set it next to the fallen tree, clapping his hands and refilling the gun with bullets. "This should last you for another round. Call me when you need more." He meandered off towards Inuyasha next to the fire. This was met by a curious glare from Inuyasha. Ed held up his hand. "…Truce?" Inuyasha gave him a high- five.

"I didn't know we were battling."

Ed looked to him like he was insane. "…but earlier?"

"That's just how I act. I assume that it is the same for you, am I right?"

Ed nodded. "I just wasn't quite sure how you worked yet."

Inuyasha sighed. "What do you need or want to know?"

"How old are you, really?"

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow in thought. "Do the years I was sealed to a tree in a sleep like spell count?"

Ed thought for a moment. "Sure."

"Okay then…um…I'm two hundred." Inuyasha nodded in confirmation.

Ed was shocked. "You're really that old!"

Inuyasha nodded. "My dad was older when he died and Sesshomaru is older than that."

"How much?"

"Dunno. I don't talk to him."

"Why?"

"He's always hated me for being a half- demon." Inuyasha's ears sunk. It reminded him of the fact that no one liked him when he was really young.

Ed stopped in thought again. "What was **your** mom like?"

Inuyasha thought for a moment and smile softly. "She was beautiful, kind, strong, smart, and loving. She was a noble lady of a prominent family and was highly respected until she had me. She would have died repeatedly for me. She would have given up her life if it meant I would never again be bothered by the town's citizens. She always comforted me when I was harassed or upset. She had the most beautiful singing voice; it could shine through everything that had happened in the day."

Ed smiled. "She sounds so much like my mom; save for the nobility part." Ed looked to Inuyasha critically. "Were you really bothered that much when you were a child?"

Inuyasha smirked. "The life of a half- demon is not an easy one. For the most part, humans and demons ignore their connection to half- breeds and they hold disdain for them. When I was little, I avoided going into the village, I would mostly hang out in the woods by myself. I had no friends. But, that didn't really bother me until mom died. After that I had to fight more and I became more…savage. I didn't talk to humans or demons until I found out about the Shikon jewel that Kikyo carried and got connected to her. Before that I fought to get people's respect, so they would leave me alone, but then mom was alive so it didn't matter, but after she died, I realized how alone I was without her." He laughed to himself. "Before then, I thought that I was alone, completely alone." He shook his head in silence.

Ed looked concerned. "Do you want to stop?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "No, what else do you want to know?"

Ed looked serious. "What was your connection to Kikyo? Like, was it the same as your connection to Kagome?"

Inuyasha frowned. "I thought I was in love with Kikyo, but it isn't the same as it is with Kagome. With Kikyo, my heart still felt some what alone and cold, but, with Kagome, I feel light and carefree. With Kagome, it's a lot easier to smile and be happy. With Kagome, I know I'm not alone." He laughed and smiled. "Thanks to Kagome, I have friends."

Ed sat pensively. In many ways he was like Inuyasha. But, Inuyasha's life was filled with much more misery and he could laugh and smile lightheartedly. Ed had always pitied himself and Al, but here was someone with worse experiences than he had waded through and **he **could still continue blissfully. Ed didn't understand. He had been too busy reading Tucker's alchemy books to read the ones on psychology.

Inuyasha looked at him. "What about you, eh? Now, you have to answer the same questions you asked me, save for the last one, just tell me about your connection to Winry."

Ed glared. "Didn't we already go through this?"

Inuyasha smirked. "I wasn't listening."

Ed sighed. "I figured as much." He sat in thought. "I'm fifteen, born in 1899. …Um…My mom was sweet, smart and kind. She cared for us and put us up on pedestals. We were her life and she was ours. She was our light, our source of power, and our source of strength. She went on like she didn't miss dad, she went on like she wasn't sick when she was suffering. She died to protect us from pain of watching her suffer for years and to protect us from feeling alone." He stopped and looked to the ground.

Inuyasha looked with curious eyes. "Your Dad left you and your family when you were really little, then?"

Ed nodded. "Al was a toddler. I was two, I think. He just left for no reason. I just remember one day he wasn't there and Mom was trembling and crying at the kitchen table reading a letter over and over again."

Inuyasha looked at him. "Do you want to stop?"

Ed sighed. "Would you mind?"

Inuyasha smiled. "I've had a long time to cope with my loss, you've had four years. I say you tell me later."

Ed had a sad smile on his face. "Thanks, Inuyasha." He sat in thought for a moment. "Do you still want to talk about my connection to Winry, though, or anything but my mom?"

Inuyasha thought for a moment. "What about your limbs, what is the story behind them?"

Ed glared. "You really weren't paying **any** attention, were you?"

Inuyasha shook his head thickly. "…Nope."

Ed sighed. "When we attempted to bring mom back, I lost my leg and Al lost his entire body for this nonhuman beast. I sacrificed my arm to attach Al's soul to a nearby of armor. Winry and her grandmother are automail mechanics, making it possible for them to create this." He lifted his arm. "They saved me from bleeding to death." He looked at Inuyasha happily. "But, having metal parts is a lot more convenient than having flesh, sometimes. I can use this as a weapon and the arm never tires. There are no muscles so it is easier to run for a long time and it is easier to test my endurance."

Inuyasha smiled. "Sounds a lot like demonic powers; that's why I so long to become a full demon."

Ed frowned. "Yeah about that; why would you want to become a full demon like your murderous brother?"

Inuyasha looked at him like he was crazy. "Not at all like Sesshomaru; like my dad. He was a great demon. He controlled all of the western lands. He was second to none. It's like Miroku is fond of saying, ' That's just how men think… you think you can at least do what your father can and you hope that one day you'll surpass him. For boys, a father is their most influential role model'. I have defeated one enemy that he could not, but I am still not as strong as he was. My father was all demon; so, I think about it as 'if I want to beat the old man, that's what I have to be as well.'" Inuyasha looked at him. "Don't you think that way?"

Ed shook his head. "I know I'm a better alchemist and I know I'm better person; I always come back."

"Should you really be so cocky? How do you know that you're a better alchemist?"

Ed's demeanor hardened. "I am a bit of a prodigy. I have a natural thirst for knowledge, anything around me I take into consideration and I learn from my mistakes. Hoenhiem did not; he abandoned us, he abandoned the State, and he abandoned his friends. I have never done that."

Winry came from behind him and hit him with the butt of the gun. "What do you call leaving Grandma and I for four years! It took you four years to come back and you came back in shambles! You were missing your automail arm and Al was in pieces! After that it just kept happening. Al would be in pieces and you would have something important wrong with your automail, or worse with your flesh!"

Ed looked at her tears with no emotion. He felt guilt but said nothing until she glared at him. "That's not abandonment."

"Then what the hell is it!" Winry shook with anger.

"If I was abandoning you, I wouldn't have called, I wouldn't have returned, and I wouldn't have cared."


	20. Out Of Control

**Disclaimer: I have nothing to say. You know what goes here, so should I bother? I'll be getting every manga in my power, so I'll own merchandise, but nothing else.**

**I need some reviews for my new story and for Desperate Situation. I need some input for DS. I dunno. Throw me a bone. "BARK!" :- (tilt your head to the left)**

Chapter Twenty

Out Of Control

Winry was not satisfied with Ed's definition of 'abandonment', but she appeased her harsh feelings by throwing her empty gun at Ed and running. Inuyasha stopped Ed from running after her, receiving a threatening glare from Ed.

"Why did you stop me, fool?" Ed yelled.

Inuyasha hit him on top of the head. "Idiot, if you follow her, it will only further upset her; just let her talk to Kagome and Sango, it'll calm her. All you would achieve from following would be a new bruise."

Ed sighed in defeat and smiled. "Thanks then."

Inuyasha smirked. "No prob-…" Inuyasha stopped and stood.

Ed looked confused. "What's up?"

Inuyasha looked around suspiciously. "Go get the women and tell Miroku that there's a demon coming. He'll be bothering Sango."

Ed looked at him critically. "Are you sure?"

A thud rang out followed by Sango yelling 'lecher'. "Yeah, I'm sure."

Before Ed ran off, a large demon came out from the trees near them. He chuckled loudly. "Is it safe to assume that you are Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha glared. "My, my, you're an ugly thing. Who sent you to me?"

The demon laughed again. "You have met my siblings. I am another demon born of the great demon Naraku."

Inuyasha shook his head as he himself started laughing. "Well, I'll hand it Naraku, he's **great** at one thing, playing hide and seek." Inuyasha drew Tetsusiaga. "Allow me to guess that you are hell bent on killing me and that **scum **Naraku has filled your head with random lies about me."

The demon smiled. "Yes." He attacked Inuyasha, who was unprepared for his speed, sending the Tetsusiaga flying. Inuyasha jumped back to get his sword, but was sent flying when the demon's claws marred his side.

Ed sat in terror. He yelled hysterically. "Miroku! Al!"

This caught the demon's attention and sent him towards Ed. "Didn't see you there. Not calling for help are you? But the fun's just begun!"

Ed clapped his hands erecting a wall with a fake Ed behind it and ran behind the demon to check on Inuyasha, only to see him flying towards the demon, claws up and ready. He sliced the demon effortlessly and landed on the wall. He laughed maliciously. "That was fun. Where are more enemies?" He looked back to find the statue of Ed and sliced its head off and tore apart the wall.

Ed watched in horror as Inuyasha did this, yelled out in terror as Inuyasha's attention focused on him, revealing red eyes, purple streaks along his cheeks, and longer fangs. "Inuyasha what's wrong with you! Miroku! Al! Someone, HELP!" Ed stumbled backwards as he was attempting to get away from the advancing Inuyasha. "No!" He put his right arm up to defend himself from the claws coming at him, scratching deep, claw marks into the metal.

"SIT!" Kagome and everyone else came out from behind the rubble of the wall. Inuyasha was a foot into the ground.

Winry and Al ran to Ed as Inuyasha was lifting himself out of the hole Kagome's powers had sent him into. He looked over at Ed and paled. He pointed to the scars in Ed's automail. "I…I did that, didn't I?" Ed shook uncontrollably. He looked away from Inuyasha and nodded somberly. Inuyasha's breathing started coming quick and shaky rasps. He stood and started trembling. He turned his face away from everyone and sobbed quietly. "I'm sorry." He turned, revealing tears. "I'm so sorry." He ran in the direction of Tetsusiaga, grabbing it without stopping, and continued in that direction.

Kagome fell into a sitting position and cried. "I'm sorry, Ed, we should have come faster and sooner."

Sango comforted her quietly. Miroku looked at Ed. "That's what happened when we told you about how Inuyasha killed bandits. He had no idea what or who he was. In the words of Sesshomaru 'He was a mindless, killing thing.' When Inuyasha is parted from the Tetsusiaga and fears for his life, his full demon blood takes over. It's a defensive maneuver that Inuyasha doesn't have control over without Tetsusiaga. He will continue killing until his flesh wears out. He feels no pain, no fear, and he doesn't tire. His half demon flesh is too weak to handle the demonic blood, though, so he would die if he was parted for too long."

Ed stood, against Al and Winry's protests. "Let's go find him."

Kagome smiled through her tears. "Thank you, Edward."

Inuyasha sat on a rock overlooking a creek. His tears had dried when he was running. His clothes had still not dried from trying to get the demon's blood off of them. He wanted to forget what had happened; he wasn't sure whether to go back or to just live his life alone. He didn't want to ever do that ever again. The picture Ed's terrified face was chiseled into his mind's eye. He sat his head down on his hands. "Why did the demon have to come? Why was I fighting like such an idiot? I should have known better than to underestimate a demon of Naraku's. I have to stay away from them forever; I can never kill a friend of mine. I hate to leave such happiness, but what choice do I have?"

Ed walked up from behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder. "You could come back and we could forgive and forget." Inuyasha looked at him like it was impossible that he was there. "Shippo has a surprisingly strong sense of smell. He led us here." He sat down next to Inuyasha. "How about coming back with us?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "I can't travel with you guys anymore."

Ed was aghast. "What would that solve? To stay by yourself; that's idiotic. Kagome can't stop your transformations when you're not around. I'm fine and everyone else is, as well."

Inuyasha looked down and shook his head. "I almost killed you; you are not fine, look at your arm!"

Ed smiled. "I've had worse injuries from Winry." He waved his arm around and wiggled his wrist. "Everything still works."

Inuyasha skipped a rock. "No matter what I do, I can't remove the look of terror that was on your face from my mind." He put his face into his hands. "I've seen too many people with that look on their faces and have it be my fault."

Ed sighed. "You told me earlier that when you were alone so many years ago that you became savage. Do you really want to go through that again?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "No, but I can't afford to lose my friends."

"We have more of a chance of dieing if you're not with us."

Inuyasha rose and yelled. "But at least it won't be at my hands that they die!"

Ed stood and grabbed his arm. "Everyone here is willing to take that risk!" Inuyasha just stared. "Even if it means that I have to die by your hands, I wouldn't give you up as a friend! Everyone here feels the same! You would do the same for your friends; I know you would!"

Inuyasha puts his claws up to Ed's eyes. "These can kill you! If Tetsusiaga and I are parted I have no control!" He looked at the ground. "I can still see the faces of the bandits and I can still smell their blood that I spilt." He looked at Ed with a pained face. "I've hurt too many people to live amongst humans and I care too much to live amongst demons. Again I am an outsider."

Ed punched him in the side of the face. "Idiot! You're the one making yourself the outsider! We want you to return! We don't care about the cost; all that matters is that you are still our friend and you are still traveling with us!" Ed instantly understood how Winry felt.

Kagome sat with everyone else quietly. Ed had asked if he could talk to Inuyasha first, she had been praying that it would get him back. She looked up and noticed Ed and Inuyasha walking side by side into view. She stood and took Inuyasha out with a hug.

"Don't ever leave again! I swear I'll kill you and then send you into the center of the Earth repeating your least favorite word!" She yelled while sitting on his stomach.

Inuyasha laughed. "I don't know if that's a greeting or a threat."

Kagome kissed him, making Inuyasha's face match his Haori, and whispered into his ear. "Please don't leave me alone again, I need you near me." Inuyasha nodded and hugged her.

This continued until Miroku cleared his throat. "I know you missed eachother but I need to talk to Inuyasha."

Kagome nodded and let Inuyasha go, him and Miroku walked away. Kagome turned to Ed as they walked away and bowed. "Thank you, Ed." Ed was about to respond when he was called.

"Hey, Ed, we need you, as well." Miroku made the hand motion of 'c'mon' and continued walking.

Ed smiled. "You're welcome, Kagome. Coming!" Ed ran catch up with them.

Miroku glanced back and smirked. "I am jealous, to be getting that kind of treatment from a woman." He sighed as Inuyasha punched him in the head.

Inuyasha glared. "You would get **something** if you weren't always copping a feel. Women don't count attention as getting a pat on the rump. Kagome and I have talked about this. You love eachother, that much is obvious, but make a move that isn't feeling up her body."

Ed sighed. "I really shouldn't be exposed to this yet."

Inuyasha glared. "You have to learn about this sometime, don't you? Would you rather learn about this from your military superior or from us?"

Ed sighed in defeat. "True enough."

Miroku cocked an eyebrow as he sat on a tree stump. "We have to discuss relationships."

Inuyasha was shocked. "You called us away for that!"

Ed laughed. "I don't think we will be making moves on each other's girlfriends. I mean, aren't the posted signs up?"

They looked at him confusedly, but got the gist. Inuyasha looked at Miroku. "Why do we need to talk about this?"

Miroku sighed. "Inuyasha, I am saying that we should be taking advantage of Ed and them being here. I'm saying we should make our moves now."

Ed rolled his eyes. "And what about Al, do we just ask him to watch Shippo and Kirara for us while we go and make-out?"

Al came up from behind him. "You really don't have to ask."

Ed glared. "You weren't invited to come along."

"But I came anyways!" Al patted Ed on the shoulder. "I will watch them tonight and whenever else you ask."

Inuyasha looked at him like he was amused. "Sorry, but…"

Al laughed. "I am too young for this." He turned to Ed. "One would think that Ed would say the same…it seems he's quite infatuated with Winry then…enough to start courting her."

Ed glared then started laughing. "You're far too perceptive, Al."

Al laughed himself. "You know, Tucker said that to you."

Ed cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "Before I beat the hell out of him. 'Course he wasn't lying."

Al laughed. "We really should stop paying so much attention to detail."

"Why just so we can get ourselves killed by psychos with little cares for anything save for reaching higher points in their jobs? I'd rather be a geek."

Inuyasha looked at Al. "I trust you can be trusted with watching the evil little demon known as Shippo?"

Al laughed and nodded. "Kirara can probably keep him preoccupied, but if not, I can do it."

Miroku laughed. "Judging by the suns location…"

Ed took out his watch. "It's eight."

Miroku looked at him. "What does that mean?"

"It means the sun will probably set in either a half hour or an hour. We have to set up camp."

Miroku held out his hand. "Can I see that?"

Ed held it close. "I can't, I'm sorry." He looked away and blushed. "If you ask, Winry will probably make you one." He started walking back to the women, with Inuyasha on his heels.

"Hey…?"

Ed looked at him. "What's up?"

Inuyasha got close to him and whispered. "What was up with that? You don't seem like a 'material' person, so, what was that?"

Ed sighed and stopped and pulled out the watch. "Only Winry has seen this. Not Al, not the military." He opened the cover of the watch and showed it to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha looked at it. "That's a date, right? Kagome has that written on the top of her school papers."

Ed nodded. "It's the date of the day that I burned my house down and left Resembool."

Inuyasha looked perplexed. "So? What does that day mean to you?"

Ed sighed again. "It's my guilty motivation. It's a reminder of the promise that I made to myself; that I can never return home again; that there is no home. There may be a family, but there is no home."

Inuyasha looked at him. "That's nothing bad enough to keep it from Al."

Ed looked at him critically. "It's a sign that I'm weak. That's why I was fighting Winry's definition of abandonment so fervently. I can't say I abandoned anything if there's nothing left."

Inuyasha laughed out loud. "I fought against whining in front of anyone and against holding ties to anyone, but now I almost long for them and I think of them nostalgically. I will sometimes complain and I hold ties to many people and places now. I have helped people and saved lives. I no longer hold back from talking about anything to Kagome. I tell her anything she wants to know, hell, I do that for anyone that asks. It's not so hard to be me anymore since I changed the definition of myself."

Ed sighed. "But there's got to be something that you don't tell people."

"I usually don't tell anyone about the feelings I hold for Kagome, 'course, no one has ever asked before, save for Shippo."

Ed laughed. "So I'm the only one with deep dark secrets."

"They aren't deep when you tell someone."


	21. Shall We Spar

**Disclaimer: TTTT I don't not own nothing (OOO, TRIPLE NEGATIVE! ENGLISH TEACHER COMES AND THROWS CHALK AT ME "WHAT ARE YOU DOING! THAT'S NOT PROPER ENGLISH!" "Neither is the sentence 'I couldn't care less', but guess what…I COULDN'T!")**

**I really don't have any author's notes. Someone has to review my other two stories for me to continue. So, review dammit!**

**I'm such a spoiled princess. My dad just spent more than $80 on me for no reason. He bought me the first two Trigun DVDs and the second Fullmetal Alchemist DVD. YAY! And he bought me more Nintendo 64 games! TT-TT…so happy.**

Chapter Twenty One

Shall We Spar?

Ed and Inuyasha made it back to camp after Miroku and Al. Al kept eying up Ed suspiciously. Ed had noticed the uncomfortable silence between him and his brother and it was starting to bother him.

"What's with you, little brother?" Al looked at him. "What's the silence, eh?"

Al sighed. "Beat me and I'll tell you!" He got into his fighting stance.

Ed laughed. "I knew that in order to gain, something of equal value had to be lost, but fighting for information? Seriously?"

Al responded by lunging at his brother. Ed grabbed Al's arm and tripped him onto the ground. Al spun his legs, sending Ed flying. Al rose and ran to where Ed was going to land. Ed landed in a crouching position and flew towards Al. Al stopped and put his arms up defensively. Ed spun in the air, kicking Al and knocking him over, landing on his chest.

"Give up?" Ed had a triumphant smile on his face.

Al laughed and hit Ed's legs out from under him. "Hardly!"

Ed landed on all fours and ran towards Al. Each punch that Ed threw, Al blocked; same with Al's punches. Ed ducked under his brother's punch and kicked his legs out from under him. Al kicked Ed's legs as he was falling, as well, knocking Ed to the ground.

Al and Ed sat on the ground, Ed panting and Al snickering. Al cleared his throat and was the first to speak. "Are we done?"

Ed shrugged. "Sure." He raised his fist and Al did the same. They hit each others' fists.

Inuyasha and Miroku had watched the brothers fight, Inuyasha called winner and Miroku claimed loser. They had agreed that only martial arts would be used, though, Miroku would fight with his staff, providing his opponent with a staff, as well. The brothers walked up to them, only to be greeted with harsh stares, "Who won?" Miroku exploded.

Ed smirked. "It was a draw." He turned to Al. "Remember the last time we had a draw?"

Al laughed and almost fell over. "Yeah, that was the time we were fighting at Dublith and Teacher told us to shut up and beat the hell out of us for fighting in the first place!"

Ed and Al laughed, rekindling their old memories, Miroku and Inuyasha shrugged.

Inuyasha sighed. "Well, when you two were fighting, I called winner and Miroku called loser."

Ed looked surprised and turned to Al. "Shall we have a roshambo battle to settle this?"

Al nodded and made a fist, Ed doing the same. The lifted their fists three time while chanting 'ro-sham-bo'. Ed made a fist (rock) and Al made a peace sign (scissors). Ed dance in victory. "I WIN, I WIN! I BEAT AL!" He turned to face Inuyasha with a hand out for a hand shake. "Hello opponent."

Al sighed at his brother's reaction. "Ed, it only counts as beating me when we spar, not do 'rock, paper, scissors.'" He turned to face Miroku. "How will we fight?"

Miroku looked at the ground in thought. "Well, we'll fight with staffs and winner will probably fight winner and vice versa for loser." He looked at Ed and Inuyasha. "Right, winner versus winner, loser versus loser?"

The men nodded and faced eachother. "Are we fighting with staffs or just martial arts?" Ed looked interested, he could do either, and Al could not.

Inuyasha smirked. "Martial arts."

Ed nodded. "Excellent."

Al sighed. "Brother, could you make me a staff?"

Ed nodded and clapped his hands, touching the ground. A pole erupted from the spot he touched, growing as he stood. He threw it at his brother. "Here, good luck."

Al nodded and half-bowed. "Thanks, same to you." He turned to face Miroku, pole ready. "Ready?"

Miroku nodded. "Now!" He lunged at Al and forced him back two steps.

Al forged forward and turned his staff. Miroku and him continued to fight in an evenly matched duel.

Ed kicked forward and met Inuyasha's arm. Inuyasha grabbed his leg and forced him the ground. Ed kicked upward meeting Inuyasha's jaw. Inuyasha released him, stumbling backward.

"Sorry." Ed ran towards him and threw a punch.

"Don't worry about it." He blocked it and pushed Ed over. Ed braced for the attack and was forced backward. Ed spun in the air, kicking Inuyasha's arm away from him, he flipped backward, landing with arms ready for more battle. They seemed evenly matched in hand to hand. Inuyasha sighed as he blocked one of Ed's attacks and he blocked one of his. "Do you want to call it a draw?"

Ed was surprised and started to snicker, "Why, afraid a **human** will beat you?"

Inuyasha laughed. "Hardly, But Miroku and Al seemed to have called a stalemate and we seem evenly matched in hand-to-hand without me using my demonic power." He looked over to see Miroku and Al shaking hands and smiling.

Ed sweat dropped at his brother's kindness. "Then shall you battle Al and I battle Miroku?"

Inuyasha nodded.

Ed laughed. "Just to warn you, I have never beaten Al in hand to hand, save for when I was really pissed off."

Inuyasha nodded and held out his hand.

Ed was surprised and looked at it.

Inuyasha sighed and his ears sunk. "Am I doing it wrong? I mean, isn't this what people from the future do when they agree on something?"

Ed laughed, making Inuyasha ears sink lower. He waved his arms out in front of him. "No, no, I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing because last time I did that you high-fived me, I was expecting you to do that again." He smiled and shook Inuyasha's hand. "Now that that is decided." He pointed at Miroku. "Yo, monk! I'm fighting you!"

Miroku sighed. "Aw man, I didn't want to fight anymore."

"Too bad, get over here, pervert!" He held his hand out and faced Al. "Can I use your spear-thing?"

Al threw it at him. "Good luck, Brother." He stopped Miroku. "Brother is a better fight with staffs than I am."

Miroku sighed.

Ed smiled at Miroku. "Ready? ...NOW!" He lunged at Miroku and knocked the staff out of his hands and tripped him. He held the staff near his neck. "I win." He held out a hand and helped Miroku up. "Want to fight again, you start this time?"

Miroku nodded. "...Yeah." He retrieved his staff got into battling stance. "Ready…Now!" Ed ran towards him and clashed staffs with him, sending his flying, he flipped backwards and retrieved it quickly, he clashed with Miroku's again, running through and turning quickly, hitting the backs of Miroku's knees as he ran forward.

Ed hit the staff out of Miroku's hands and held his staff near Miroku's neck. "I win." He helped Miroku up and walked over to watch Inuyasha and Al spar.

Inuyasha kicked Al in the chest, sending them flying opposite ways; Inuyasha landed on all fours and ran back to Al, Al landing in a crouching position. He ducked as Inuyasha sent a kick towards him, grabbing his leg and throwing him.

Miroku watched. "He's much better in hand-to-hand!" He turned to Ed. "Using my staff is not my principle weapon. That's why I'm so underdeveloped while using it. I use sacred sutras and my wind tunnel."

Ed nodded. "But I haven't seen you use either, so I don't know."

Inuyasha sent a kick upward towards Al's helmet. Al grabbed his leg and threw him. Inuyasha sent wild punched towards Al, but he dodged them all. Inuyasha left his chest open and Al took the opportunity and sent a hard punch to his ribs. Inuyasha fell on impact. Al set a foot on his chest and made like he was going to send a punch to Inuyasha's face and stopped. "I win."

Inuyasha smiled. "I must have let myself go. I've never been beaten by a mortal before." He laughed and shook his head. He grabbed the hilt of Tetsusiaga. "Before I got this, I relied on martial arts, my claws, and fangs. Now, I'm useless without Tetsusiaga and my claws." He sighed again.

Al helped him up and turned to his brother. "How did you do, Brother?"

Ed smiled triumphantly. "I won!"

Al gave him a 'thumbs up'. "Nice job, Brother!"

Ed smiled. "Nice fighting yourself, Little Brother." He turned to Inuyasha and frowned, as if in thought.

Inuyasha looked surprised. "What's wrong?"

"What about that 'Kagura' woman? Did you get anything out of her before she started to fight you?"

Inuyasha slapped himself in the head. "Dammit, I forgot! Miroku, go tell the women to pack up camp, we gotta go!"

Miroku was aghast. "You idiot! You really forgot something of importance didn't you!"

Inuyasha punched him in the head. "Do as I say, fool!"

Miroku ran up to the women with a heavy pant, alerting the women of something going awry.

Kagome looked at him critically. "What's wrong?"

He chuckled. "Your beau is a fool." Sango punched him. "What, he's both of those things!" He sighed. "We have to pack up camp and leave now. Inu-fool forgot something of importance that Kagura told him."

Kagome sighed and started putting things into her backpack. Miroku turned to walk back to where the men were, but she stopped him, receiving a quizzical looked from him. She smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Miroku."

He smiled and ran back to the men. As he saw Inuyasha, he smirked evilly. Inuyasha's suspicions grew as he watched the monk. "What mutiny did you commit against me?"

Miroku felt rewarded as Inuyasha barked at him harshly. "I don't know what you mean, dear friend. If anything, I did you a favor."

Inuyasha's face grew serious and he barked angrily. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

Miroku laughed gleefully. "I called you Kagome's beau."

Inuyasha attacked him. "What the hell did you do that for!"

Miroku attempted to run away. "I did you a favor, you twit. Anyone with eyes can see Kagome is in love with you and you told us that you want to get into Kagome's yukata!"

"I NEVER SAID THAT!"

Miroku smirked. "Aah, yes, but you were thinking it; we are men!"

"NOT ALL MEN ARE AS PERVERTED AS YOU, YOU TAINTED MONK!"

"My friend, you have spent a very long time as a teenage male. I mean, we all have…urges." He smiled as if in reverie.

Inuyasha blushed. "Not everyone has the same 'urges' as you do." He shuddered as he said 'urges' and turned to Ed. "Please don't tell me this is how all human, male, teenagers think all of the time."

Ed was appalled. "Don't compare him to normal human, male, teens."

Miroku glared. "I don't think anyone here is in the category of normal."

All the men looked at eachother and agreed in unison. "True enough."

Ed looked at Inuyasha. "Where are we headed my fear-less leader?"

Inuyasha smiled. "Ojici." He looked over to see the women come over. "Ready?"

Kagome nodded and smiled. "Let's head out."

Inuyasha, Miroku, Al, and Ed all ran next to Kilala, who was carrying Winry and Sango. Kagome and Shippo rode on Inuyasha.

They arrived to the town quickly. Only to find it completely deserted. Inuyasha shook with rage. "Damn that wench, I told her not to kill anyone!"

Ed seemed shocked at his reaction to the situation. He turned and noticed a small girl walk up in peasant's clothes. "Inuyasha…look."

Inuyasha turned and proceeded to stare her down. "Did Kagura kill you?"

The girl started sucking on her thumb and shook her head. "No…I died from a battle in Sukashi's domain."

Inuyasha smirked. "Well, at least she listens to me. What did she tell you to tell us?"

The girl looked defiant. "She told me to tell you that Naraku is not hiding. That he is stalking you waiting for the pristine moment to attack. He currently is confirming information on your recent battle with Kanna and Kagura." The girl turned to Sango. "I was also told to tell **you** that Kohaku should be in Musashi's domain looking for more leads on the Shikon jewel."

Sango's eyes started to tear. "Why did she tell you to tell me that?"

The girl smiled. "She says he is getting in her way. He's too loyal to Naraku and is making her look worse by comparison. She says that you should see what you can do about his memory soon, she says that she believes that Naraku might be losing his use for him."

Sango paled. "Did she give you any clues as to how I can do that?"

The girl glared. "Well, you would probably have to separate for a while; with Naraku following you it wouldn't be wise to alert him to your plans. Also, he might give Kohaku the order to kill you." She smirked. "The Lord Naraku does not like it when acts such as this are committed against him; it would be wiser not to tell him you had this interaction with Kagura if you wish to be filled in on information such as this. But, for your own safety; I would watch your backs." She turned to Inuyasha. "You might have to hold on tightly to that sword of yours; Naraku saw you little display of misplaced emotions and is plotting on using your weakness to his advantage. And you," She pointed to Ed, "The dark Lord has become an ally of those creatures from your era and they aren't friends to your cause. They are planning something sinister." She turned around and waved over her shoulder. "And the usual warnings to all of you…saimyosho and other evil demons. Later." She walked over to the forest's edge and her body melted into a cloud of miasma.

Ed smirked. "Oh good, the evil people on a murderous rampage just made friends to further taint their hands in the means of killing nine people." He looked at Inuyasha and flashed a smile and a 'thumbs up'. "Yay, we're pissing them off little by little!"

Inuyasha laughed. "You call me fearless." He shook his head. "Sango, who do you want to travel with to get your brother back?"

Sango twitched slightly and heaved out a heavy sigh. "It doesn't matter; I don't even need someone to travel with."

Inuyasha glared. "In no way is that intelligent. If you remember last time, that didn't work out to anyone's advantage."

She sighed and nodded. "It doesn't matter."

Miroku went to her and hugged her, not putting his hands in any places they didn't belong.

Sango responded by pulling him closer and holding on to him like her life depended on it. She wept into his shoulder and shook violently as her sobs shook her body. Miroku cooed to her softly and wrapped his arms around her body, "Its okay, Sango, I'll go with you and we'll get Kohaku back. Shhh, it'll be alright."

All the others watched with surprise and pity. Kagome looked at Sango and smiled sweetly when she looked up at her. "You and Miroku go; we can find Naraku and keep him distracted from your cause. You two be careful." Sango fled to Kagome's arms and hugged her.

"Thank you." Her voice was no more than a whisper. She wiped her eyes with her hands and turned to Kirara and Miroku. "Do you want to go now?"

Kirara transformed in response and Miroku nodded. "Of course." He smiled and climbed onto Kirara.

Sango followed suit and climbed on in front of him and waved as Kirara took off.

Ed looked at Inuyasha. "What now? If this guy is looking for us…what do **we** do?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Go onward like before. If we act too suspiciously, he'll know that Kagura ratted him out."

Ed sighed. "So where do we go now?"

Inuyasha looked at the sky. "Let's go west."

"Why?"

"Why not…plus we're fairly close to the place we got herbs last time…" He turned to Kagome and smiled, "We can go see Jinenji!"

Kagome threw her hands in the air. "YAY…He'll be happy to see us!" She hugged Inuyasha. "Thank you, Inuyasha!" She kissed his cheek and released him.

Inuyasha blushed and muttered. "…Yeah."

Ed looked at Inuyasha. "Who's Jinenji?"

Inuyasha smiled. "A half demon we met awhile ago. He had to show his teeth to get the villagers off of his case."

Ed sighed. "Are you corrupting more people?"

Kagome shook her head. "No, Inuyasha helped him. Jinenji sat and took all that the villagers threw at him and Inuyasha proved his innocence in some murder cases that were happening around town. Jinenji and Inuyasha defeated the real culprits of the murders and made it so the villagers left Jinenji alone."

Inuyasha shook his head. "I didn't do anything that important."

Kagome crossed her arms. "You killed seven demons and saved all of the villagers in Jinenji's field."

"Yeah, but I came late; two people had already been killed in said field and you ended up getting knocked out!"

Kagome sighed. "Fool, you saved Jinenji and his mother from years of torment!"

Inuyasha glared at the ground. "Yeah, but how many years had they already suffered through?"

Kagome went up to him and slapped him across the face. "DON'T TAKE RESPONSIBILITIES THAT AREN'T YOURS TO HANDLE!"

Inuyasha watched her storm off to the west and sighed. "Feh. Whatever." He crossed his arms and followed a way's behind her.

Ed and Al followed close to Inuyasha when Winry went up to comfort Kagome. Ed turned to Inuyasha. "So this 'Jinenji' is a friend of yours?"

Inuyasha nodded. "As previously stated."

Ed nodded. "Know any other half demons?"

Inuyasha held up two fingers. "One more."

Ed seemed surprised. "That's it?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Demon and human relationships aren't all too common.


	22. Half Demons

**Disclaimer: I signed up for powder puff. Mostly to make up for the fact that my school doesn't have a guy's football team. Plus, I get to beat the hell out of some little, skinny ass freshmen. Bring on the fresh-meat! **

**What the hell's up with Kikyo coming back? Dammit, why is she the only one who doesn't stay dead?**

**Yo no own.**

Chapter Twenty Two

Half demons

Ed looked at Inuyasha and laughed. "With demons like your brother running around I can't see why anyone wouldn't want to hang out with demons."

Inuyasha sighed. "From what I hear, my father was a good demon and so were the demon parent of many half demons." Inuyasha looked around and frowned.

Ed watched him. "What's up?"

Inuyasha's eyes widened. "Come on!" He took off and flew in front of Kagome and Winry with Ed and Al chasing after him.

"Inuyasha! Tell me what's up!" Ed stumbled and grew angry when his words went ignored. "Dammit! You idio-." Ed stopped when he saw Inuyasha bent down near a figure. He ran up to Inuyasha and stopped when he saw what had caught Inuyasha's focus; a small redheaded teenage girl with her arms wrapped protectively around another girl. Ed crouched down next to her and looked at her face. Something caught his eye, her ears, they were pointed. Ed turned to Inuyasha and pointed at her. "She's…Is she a … Half demon?"

Inuyasha nodded and looked at the human girl and pointed at her. "She's not." He picked up her and handed her to Ed and picked up the half-breed girl, to turn around and find Kagome.

Ed laughed and shrugged his shoulder. "Um…I think we found some friends. Heh."

Kagome signaled for Ed and Inuyasha to put them down, this caused Inuyasha to roll his eyes. "If you had hurried up a little, I wouldn't have even bothered to pick her up!"

"Well, I'm sorry. We all can't be super human like you! Plus, picking her up to you is like picking up 5lbs to a normal human!" Kagome glared at him with her arms akimbo and opened her bag.

Inuyasha sat down next to her. "How bad are her injuries…compared to a human?"

Kagome looked at her injuries thoroughly. There were scars that were old and were obviously bad when they were fresh, deep gashes on her stomach and back, each stretching from her shoulder down to her opposite hip, and her face had cuts on the cheek bones and eyebrows. A look at her limbs told Kagome that her left wrist was broken and her ankle was swollen, probably from twisting it in a sprain. "She is not in good shape at all, if she is like a normal human."

"B-But I'm not a normal human." The girl's eyes clenched tight and she strained to sit up.

Inuyasha held her uninjured shoulder so she couldn't rise. "You're injured, stay down."

The girl's eye opened in a glare. She watched him closely.

Inuyasha sighed and rolled his eyes. "I am no enemy to you. I don't kill half demons."

The girl spat at him, hitting him in the face. "What, to _good_ to kill something weaker than you?"

Inuyasha glared. "No, I don't kill half demons because I am a half demon."

The girl's glare softened as Inuyasha wiped the spit off of his face with a rag Kagome handed him. She watched Inuyasha and sprang up looking around. "FUMI?" She grabbed her chest and stomach in pain from the jerk and crumbled into a ball.

Ed walked over to her with the little girl in his arms and set her down next to her. "If you're talking about this girl, here she is."

The girl looked at Kagome. "Please take care of my sister first."

Kagome's face softened even more from her determined look and smiled at the girl. "No problem." Kagome grabbed Winry's arm and pulled her down with the determined look back on. "Rub this on her gashes."

Winry nodded while the girl gasped. "When you call 'em 'gashes' you make 'em seem worse than they are."

Kagome looked at her harshly. "You'll be down for a while. They are enough to fatally injure a human."

The girl sighed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever, just please take care of my sister."

Kagome smiled and walked over to Fumi. She was still asleep and her injuries consisted of a goose-egg on her forehead, probably from falling, and a bruised cheek, either from the fall of getting hit in the head. Kagome looked at her and smiled, all she had to do was put a cold- compress on her forehead. Kagome turned back to the girl and smiled. "All done. What's your name?"

The girl smiled back and looked at the sky. "Payne." She turned to Kagome and smiled softly. "Thank you…so much, being a half demon, I'm not used to such hospitality, I'm sorry if I acted sourly."

Kagome waved her hand in front of her. "No problem."

Inuyasha came from behind Kagome and stared harshly at the girl. "Payne, right? What happened?"

Payne looked at the sky. "You know; the usual."

Ed looked at her sharply. "And what does that entail?"

Her face looked pained and she closed her eyes, looking like she was going to cry. She drew a breathe sharply and let it out raggedly and agonizingly slow. She opened her eyes and looked at them sadly. "The villagers don't like me."

Ed looked at her like she was insane. "The-The villagers! Humans did this to you?"

Payne looked at the ground and nodded. She then looked at Inuyasha and sighed. "He doesn't know much about the lives of half demons, does he?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I told him, but it is obvious that he doesn't believe me." He looked at Ed and his glare became harsh. "I wasn't lying to you before, just so you know."

Al came from behind Ed and started whispering to his brother. "It's obvious that they hate them, but is it just from the bad reputation of the demon half of their blood, or have some half demons done some bad things?"

Ed shrugged and looked at Al out the corner of his eye and whispered his response so he knew Inuyasha could hear him. "I'll talk to him later about it." Ed looked at Inuyasha, who nodded in response and looked him in the eye.

They had set up a camp fire and waited for Fumi and Payne to wake up and be ready to move around. Inuyasha had to explain to Ed and Al again that the life of a half demon was difficult and everyone had gone to bed leaving Inuyasha to stare at the fire and sort put his plan of action for the future and questioning himself on how to protect ten companions instead of five.

Inuyasha glared at the fire like it was its fault he had an extra responsibility and twitched when he heard something move. He looked over to find Payne watching his movements with extreme interest. Inuyasha looked back indifferently. "Something I can help you with?"

Her demeanor didn't change. "You're Him aren't you?"

Inuyasha looked taken-a-back. "Him?"

"The one fighting the demon Naraku, the one who wields a demon blade of incredible strength, one of the swords of Supreme Conquest, the half-demon who had collected many Shikon Shards with the help of his band of missionaries. You are Inuyasha, are you not?"

Inuyasha smirked and looked at the sky. "I hadn't realized that I had become so popular. Now I'm a household name…how…interesting."

Payne sat up, cringing in pain. "You are somewhat of an inspiration, ya know?"

Inuyasha looked at her critically. "How does that work?"

"You are proof that half demons are not weak!"

"Yeah, but so is Naraku."

She laughed. "Okay, not weak and not awful."

Inuyasha shrugged his shoulder. "I have not met one weak half demon."

She waved at him. "You can't say that anymore. Humans beat me."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and looked at her sternly. "If you don't fight back, what else would you expect?" He smirked. "Just because you tell and idiot to stop doesn't mean he will."

Al had been watching this interaction. He had remained silent and watched the girl. She was his age, he guessed. Her hair shot out in all directions, it didn't look bad; it complimented her features. Her eyes were the gray color his were, except these eyes were pained and seemed to always be that way. She had a small nevus on her neck, it looked like a skull. Al cringed when he realized what the birthmark reminded him of. She always looked sad, but her features were strong. Her face was always set in a fashion that made her look determined. Her biceps and triceps were easy to see, beneath her scars and scabs. Her posture was good, showing she was trained. She wore a short kimono; it was black with red and orange butterflies on the bottom that looked like they were on fire. Her left wrist was wrapped now and she had band-aides on all her cuts, royally thanks to Kagome and her spas-o-city. Al saw how evident the respect she was regarding Inuyasha with now was not labored at all, it came naturally to her. Al guessed this was how she regarded humans.

Inuyasha turned to Al and scoffed. "Your brother is right, you know, eavesdropping is rude."

Al squeaked and waved sheepishly. "I-I didn't mean to, I was just thinking."

Inuyasha nodded and turned to Payne and wave a hand towards Al. "This is Alphonse, better known as Al, the blondes sleeping together are Edward, a.k.a. Ed and Winry. The miko who treated your injuries is Kagome and the fox kit is Shippo. There is usually a monk and a demon slayer with a demon cat who travel with us, but they were called away on duty, they should be back soon with the demon slayer's brother. Their names are Sango, Miroku, Kirara, and Kohaku." Inuyasha smiled. "Welcome to our illustrious band of militia plus two alchemists trained in martial arts and a mechanic."

Al bowed his head. "Hello."

Payne looked at him curiously. "Why are you wearing armor?"

Al slouched and sighed.

"It's not his choice." Ed sat up and stretched.

"Brother, why are you awake?"

"Couldn't sleep with all your talking."

Payne blushed and looked towards the ground. "I'm sorry I kept you awake."

Ed waved his hands in front of him to calm her down. "No, no, don't worry about it; I haven't slept soundly since I've gotten here; too much to worry about."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I can protect you, ya' know."

"True enough, but who will protect you? Also, you deserve to be able to sleep some of the time, too." Ed waved his hand around to elaborate. He smiled at Inuyasha innocently.

Inuyasha muttered a defiant 'Keh' and turned to Payne. "Everyone here has a past; you need to realize this before we tell you anything. I'll leave these two to tell you theirs and Winry's story. I'll have my other comrades tell you things when they wake."

"Too late." Kagome sat up with a mountain of hair falling over face giving her a drowsy appearance. Inuyasha looked at her and had to suppress a chuckle, he smiled sweetly at her. "I can tell her your story if you would like to catch up on some more sleep."

She flashed him a thumbs-up, laid back down and snuggled closer to the sleeping kitsune.

Inuyasha watched her with his eyebrow arched. He waved his hand as if to brush off Kagome's interruption and turned his attention back on the people coherent enough to have conversations with. "The girl's your sister, right?"

Payne nodded. "Little sister, I trust you already know she's human."

Inuyasha nodded. "You also have the smell of a demon on you…parent?"

Payne shook her head somberly. "Father was killed when he did not comply in killing me. My elder sister is the demon you smell on me."

Inuyasha nodded, not wanting to pry any further. "Ed, Al, you first."

Ed stuck his tongue at Inuyasha, not wanting to talk first, but Al spoke, ignoring his brother's immaturity. "Brother, Winry and I aren't from this world or time. We came here by some perverse fate and we're trying to find a way home."

Payne nodded like she understood and looked at Inuyasha for help, all he did was shrug. "Umm…'kay, continue."

Ed started now. "Al is the armor." He looked at the ground and his expression was pained. "He can't get out of it; it's his body. I tried to get my mother back and he paid the price."

Al punched Ed, sending him flying across camp. He hit a tree and woke Winry, Kagome and Shippo. "Stop acting like you're the only one to blame! I had the feeling but I didn't say anything and you ended up sacrificing your arm to save me! **WE **tried to bring Mom back and **WE** failed! GOT IT?"

Ed stumbled forward and slurred his words due to his swelling cheek. "D-Don't shpeak to you older brosher like shat!" He wiped a little blood from his cheek at the end.

Al laughed at him and shook his head. "I'll speak to you however I please." He grabbed a handkerchief from his pack on his leg and walked to his brother and shook his head again. "Here."

Ed laughed and grabbed the handkerchief and wiped off his hand. "Thanks."

Payne looked at Inuyasha. "Let me guess, they're really close."

Inuyasha laughed and nodded. He looked at the boys and shook his head. "They're idiots, aren't they; both prodigies in their field of knowledge and they act their age rarely. Most of the time Ed acts arcane and Al has to calm him when Ed acts immature. They are an interesting sort."

Winry interjected. "I've known them since my birth and I still think they're weird."

Ed laughed at this. "Like you're one to talk! You're just as weird as us! You used to look at esoteric medical and automail books that we couldn't even begin to understand and Al and I were thought to be profound for our age!"

"OH SHUT UP! You did the same except with Alchemy books!" She stuck her tongue out at Ed. She turned to Payne and smiled. "Ed and Al are both very smart boys and work with the most vague of instructions and make something brilliant to behold."

Ed scratched the back of his head nonchalantly. "Stop, you're making me blush." His voice was sardonic.

Al spoke up this time. "Ed, you're a fifteen year old who got into the military at age 12, plus, you are commonly known as the 'Hero of the People', that's not a common track record of someone your age."

Ed scoffed and looked at Payne. "Any questions?"

She shook her head of starting them up on another spat again. She pointed to her sister. "Fumi."

Everyone nodded, save for Kagome and Shippo, who had gone comatose again.


	23. Abusive

**Disclaimer: This is stupid. **

**Iamsouledge; I want to talk to you. I need some masculine advice. Plus, it was only for the story, I don't actually think that way about men. My ex wasn't a perv, but he was a jealous dork, so I have questions for you. Oh, and for the sake of my poor little mind, please never use the word 'seed' like that again, the word is dead to me now, I'll just be planting flower babies during the spring and summer and fall when I wish to grow a plant.**

**If anyone has any stories of their that they want me to read and endorse and they aren't yaoi or about a anime/manga I've never heard of, I'll suggest it onto people. **

**My hit list depresses me. (I start crying and roll into a ball) My mom "SHUT UP OR WE'LL MAKE YOU WATCH LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE!" "AHHHHH! NO MORE LITTLE HOUSE ON THE FAIRIE, NO MORE!!!" (Head randomly bursts into flame, I wrap myself in bubble wrap and roll around the floor laughing each time I hear a 'pop'.**

**Powder puff was moved to after Homecoming…then to June… now wait, who the hell came up with this schedule?**

**I arrived an hour late to a masterminds meet, after we left an hour early. Two and a half hours on a bus with nerds. That's all I have to say. You get the idea. My place is here, with the snow people.**

**Isn't anyone picking up on a certain character's name?**

Chapter Twenty Three

Abusive

Fumi proved to be interesting. She was two years younger than Payne. She was smart and funny. She always had something snappy to say when something went wrong that had the group laughing. Payne just smiled the whole time enjoying the fact that her sister was awake and fully functional.

Fumi put her hands on her hips and stuck her tongue out at Inuyasha after he scolded her for spilling a bucket of water on him that she was supposed to use for cleaning Payne's wounds.

"You **WERE** supposed to use that to help your sister heal!" Inuyasha had his angry face on and was wringing out his Haori.

"Not that that isn't my top priority, but I don't think that she minds that I'm having a little fun, do you, Sis?"

Payne smiled happily. "Not at all." She was laying on the ground still due to the strict watch everyone was keeping on her.

"See! Plus, I think that another trip to the creek is definitely it just to get you wet!" She smirked mischievously and started to skip back to the river, humming.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes muttering something about liking the girl more when she was comatose.

Payne turned to Inuyasha and giggled. "I gotta take her back to Mom soon."

Inuyasha nodded. "That much I understand, by why didn't you just say 'we gotta go back.'?"

Payne looked at the ground, pained. "I…can't….go back. I'm gonna find somewhere else to go."

Inuyasha glared at her. "Why can't you return?"

"I'm not wanted and I am the reason Fumi got sent away as well. I can't have her exiled and have it be my fault."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes judging by her character and her loyalty to you, I don't thing she would allow you to just leave her by herself."

Payne sighed, "I'll just go to camp and leave during the night when she can't stop me."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Let me guess, that is what you tried to do the night that I found you and your sister."

She blushed and looked away. She simple nodded.

Inuyasha laughed and sat down. "Why not go to the village and tell your mother. That why, she'll know what's going on and she might worry less." He smirked. "Plus if the villagers really hate and torment you, them you can tell them off and then leave."

She looked at him and smiled. "Alright, but I hate to just leave Fumi."

Inuyasha cocked his head. "Isn't that what your plan was, bumming her off on us and leaving?"

She blushed. "Yeah."

"Well, we'll still see you off at your village." He leaned back with his arms behind his head and closed his eyes.

Ed came up behind him slow and nodded to Payne to keep taking to him.

She nodded. "I thought we were going to wait for Sango and Miroku first."

Inuyasha shrugged a shoulder. "I dunno, I gotta talk to everyone else and find a plan."

Ed clapped when Inuyasha finished what he was saying and dug a hole, forcing Inuyasha into the hole with bars above the top. He ran away laughing.

Inuyasha kicked at the bars, finding carbon, unable to break them, he slashed them with his claws, sending sharp metal flying everywhere. "You midget, dwarf, shrimp, bean sprout, shorty, small, tiny, minuscule, miniature, insignificant, infinitesimal, diminutive, undersized baby!"

Ed leapt backwards, spinning in the air and sprinted toward Inuyasha. "**WHAT THE HELL D'YOU SAY!!!!!!! I WILL KILL YOU!"**

Winry and Kagome walked over to Payne and sat down next to her. "What's happening?"

"They're fighting."

"Why?"

"Dunno."

"Oh."

Al came from the woods with a handful of wood. He saw his brother and dropped all the wood. "Brother!" He ran over and grabbed the hood of Ed's coat and lifted him by it, leaving Ed hanging in the air, arms and legs swinging frantically with Inuyasha still advancing.

Kagome took her role with pride now. "Inuyasha…**SIT!** Why would you attack someone who can't fight back?!"

"Oh yes I can!" Ed wriggled out of the coat and clapped his hands, transmuting a pair of fists that lifted Inuyasha into the air about twenty feet, having Inuyasha's arms and legs being separated as far as possible without being injured.

This only succeeded in **pissing** Inuyasha off. "You wanna play hard ball, boy? Fine, let's see how good you are." Inuyasha pulled his body into a ball, breaking the rocks that were binding him and having him flying down in a remarkable speed. He landed on all fours and glared at Ed with a smirk present. "Game on!" Inuyasha ran at him, landing a blunt punch on Ed's right arm.

"Watch it or you'll bend and I'll have to suffer!" Winry waved her pop can in the air.

Al had given up and was sitting with them shaking his head at the disgraceful display of immaturity. Fumi sat on Al's leg next to Payne and Kagome.

Ed kneed Inuyasha in the stomach with his left knee and caught Inuyasha's shoulder with his right hand and sent Inuyasha in a somersault over to his right.

Inuyasha landed on his right hand and flipped backward. Inuyasha stood still as Ed advanced, dropping when Ed was within reach and kicking out, tripping him. Inuyasha stood up and Ed sat still on the ground. Inuyasha held out his hand. Ed grabbed it and flipped Inuyasha over his head.

They sat there on the ground, panting slightly. Al came over and helped Inuyasha up, then Ed. He smiled when Inuyasha presented his hand and shook Ed's sincerely. Inuyasha held onto his hand still and pulled up his sleeve, inspecting his arm to make sure he hadn't damaged the metal. Ed pulled it away and stuck his tongue out at him. Inuyasha laughed and messed up Ed's hair.

Inuyasha walked forward to Payne. "Now that I've had time to think about it, I think we should leave now."

Payne nodded. "Yes sir." She stood and faced Fumi. "We're going home."

Fumi stood and danced. "YAY, I bet Mom's been missing us!" She turned to Inuyasha and bowed. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She rose she showing her face and bowed one more time. "Thank you, Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha carried Payne on his back, Fumi on his right, Kagome on his left. They stood on the top of a hill with a mild slope, emerging out of the woods. Fumi pointed to an isolated hut on the far right. "Home." She turned to Inuyasha and bowed again. "Thank you, Inuyasha."

He walked forward, everyone following. "Shut up." He said in calmly, no offence detected on his tone.

There didn't seem to be anyone around, Fumi shrugged it off and ran toward her hut. The minute she was near the door, she felt something was awry, but advanced anyways. When she entered, she felt a chill run down her spine, but she looked around instead of running like she wanted. Her first sight… blood, everywhere. Next…a hand, a feminine one. _'Mom, her scar on her finger…one just like it…'_ She screamed and ran out to the group.

Her face was pale, Inuyasha's second observation, this closely followed the scream. "What's wrong, Fumi?" Payne seemed to be guessing what was happening.

"M-Mom…" Her words were choked.

Ed looked at her. "What's your mom's name?"

"Taka…"

Ed took off like a firework and ran into the nearest hut. "WHERE'S TAKA?"

The only man in the house looked at him and laughed. "She's dead."

"What?"

"D-E-A-D, DEAD! I sent her to hell myself."

Ed grabbed him and threw him out of the hut's door. The man landed sharply on the ground.

Winry watched in horror as she saw something to which she was not accustomed, Ed acting like a fighter. She watched a man fly out of his own home and Ed following after with an evil look on his face.

Ed glared at the man and pointed to the group. "TELL THEM WHAT YOU TOLD ME!"

"And why should I?" The man wiped some blood from the corner of his mouth and spat in disgust at Ed.

Ed lifted his left pant leg. "Cause if you don't I will kick you with my metal leg!"

The guy looked at him in horror, then turned to the group and looked at them. He smirked when he saw Payne. "Ah, half breed wench, I am glad to be the one to inform you of this: your mother is dead and it is your fault."

Ed grabbed the color of his shirt. "The hell d'you say?"

The man laughed. "If she hadn't birthed a half breed, she wouldn't of had to die."

Ed threw him again. "And who gave you the right to decide who lives and dies?"

"No one, I appointed myself for the role."

Payne jumped off Inuyasha's back at this point and walked up to the man.

"So you finally come over from your hiding spot, half breed?" The man stood.

Payne pointed to Fumi with her bangs hiding her eyes. "Not only did you kill an innocent woman, but you just **stole** an innocent girl's mother from her, did you realize that?"

The man laughed and shrugged a shoulder as he stood. "The girl should be happy and proud to be a part of the war against demons. The life of a woman is a small price to pay to make a demon suffer."

Payne looked up with tears in her eyes. "YOU BASTARD! I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE TO SUFFER HERE, YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY THAT I DON'T USE THE TWISTED LOGIC THAT YOU USE, BECAUSE I KNOW WELL ENOUGH THAT YOU ARE A MARRIED MAN WITH TWO CHILDREN! I WONDER WHAT I COULD DO THERE!"

The man smiled "Ah yes, but you know as well as I do that you wouldn't, mostly to keep your sister ignorant to the evil that burns in your soul and because you are too **spineless** to do a thing."

Winry stepped forward crying. "She isn't being spineless by not making or wanting you to suffer!"

He looked at her in disgust. "What are you crying about? I'm going this all for humans like you!"

Al spoke now, his words dripping with disgust. "We don't need anyone to fight for us, we could have done it for ourselves if we felt the need, or a threat. But we were lacking in both, Payne and her sister are good people and judging by there characters, I'm guessing their mother was just as kind and sensible, unlike yourself, sir."

The man shook his head and started walking toward Payne. Just as his pace quickened, Payne shoved Ed, sending him flying, and she stood with her face facing downward. The man grabbed her neck and pushed her against his hut, lifting her off of the ground.

Inuyasha stepped forward, but Payne yelled at him to stop. "This is my fight and if anyone gets involved I'll personally **kick** their ass." Her words were strained.

She put her hands on the man's hand. He laughed. "I don't think you'll have the strength to breath when I'm done with you, just look at you struggle."

She looked at him with a callous face. "One should only use spiteful words when the battle is over." Her hands started to glow, fire sparking from her fingertips, burning his skin. He let her go and she pushed him away. "I was told that I should start fighting for myself, not to let anyone walk over me anymore, and to make my voice heard, and that's my plan."

He smiled and grabbed behind his back. "I'm not one to follow trends, but I picked up a new toy from a merchant the other day. I had you in mind when I bought it, do you mind helping me test it?"

Payne smirked. "What is it, soap?"

The man smiled and pulled out a small gun and pulled the trigger.

Fumi lurched forward and Inuyasha held her still. "PAYNE, PAYNE!"

Everyone just looked at Payne as she stood there with an empty look on her face. Her body twitched and a stream of blood started coming from her lips. She looked at him and smirked. She licked the blood trail and ran at him, kicking him in the face, and knocking him to the ground, landing in a crouching position and falling over as she relaxed.

Fumi broke free from Inuyasha, "Sister…Payne, don't leave me, too, come on…" She put her hand on Payne's stomach and pulled it away as she was met by a steady flowing stream of blood. She looked at it in horror. "No! Don't die, don't you dare die, I swear I'll kick you ass…"

Payne smiled weakly and looked at her. "I'd like to see you try…" She started to close her eyes.

"Don't do it, Payne, don't go where I can't follow you, I need to follow you…who am I going to learn from if you're not around…I need to watch and learn, you've always said that…" She was sobbing now.

"I'm…not gonna…die…just my…eyes are really…tired…I need to…to close 'em." She closed her eyes slowly.

"No, hey come on, that's, that's not funny, come on Payne get up…" Fumi looked at her with free flowing tears.

Kagome sat down next to Fumi and looked at the wound. "The bullet isn't a through and through, I need to get it out and stop the bleeding, I'm gonna need your help, Winry."

Winry nodded and sat down next to Kagome. She took off her coat and grabbed the tweezers from Kagome. "It would be wise to get Fumi out of here, it's not gonna be pretty."

Ed and Al nodded, Al led her away and Ed clapped and made a tent around the two. Inuyasha tied up the unconscious man and grabbed a oil lamp from his house and put it in the tent with the girls. "Anything I can do?"

Kagome looked at him. "Have Ed boil water, make sure Fumi is taken care off, and take care of the man that shot Payne."

Inuyasha nodded and left the area.

The girls were in the tent for two hours with the occasional beckon for Edward or Al for Alchemy. Inuyasha sat talking with Fumi, to make sure she was alright, though he did much of the talking, she nodded occasional nod or agree, but she was silent for the most part.

Kagome called for Inuyasha as she steeped out and motioned for him to follow, he did as he was told and crossed his arms. Kagome sighed. "We've done all that we can, time will tell if what we did really help."

Inuyasha looked her, panicked. "It should work, right?"

Kagome looked at him blankly. "We used all the right tools and made sure to disinfect all the tools we used and we made sure to stop the bleeding, but whether or not she wakes up is up to how strong she is."

Miroku and Sango made their way back later that day, Kohaku-less and confused by the depressed girl and the tent in the middle of everything. Kagome met them quietly to tell them of the happenings while Winry was redressing Payne's wound and Ed and Al were talking with Fumi. They were confused, but nodded to make Kagome shut up. They told her that Kohaku seemed to recognize Sango towards at the end, but was carried off by Kagura **(Yes I'm bumming this off of the show, but it won't end the same way…Ps. Kagura is helping them…don't worry)**. Fumi came up to Kagome, face pale and hair messed. "Um…Kagome…?"

Kagome smiled comfortingly. "What's wrong, Fumi?"

She looked down at her feet. "Can I go sit with Payne…please?"

Kagome's smiled vanished, she had to feel sorry for the girl, she couldn't imagine what she would do if someone she loved got hurt like this. "Sure, Fumi, come with me…" She walked Fumi into the tent after asking Winry if she was done checking her progress.

Miroku looked at Sango, finding her looking saddened. "You okay, Sango?"

"Poor, Fumi. I've been there and it sucks. I wouldn't wish that on anyone." She looked at Miroku and hugged him tightly.

Ed came from behind them. "When did you guys get back?"

"About twenty minutes ago. We seemed to have missed a lot." Miroku looked off to the direction Kagome led Fumi.

Ed nodded. "Quite an interesting couple of days, that's for sure. Though, I do hope Payne recovers."

Al came out from nowhere looked at Sango. "Hi guys, when did you get back?"

Sango looked at him. "Hey, Al, we got back about twenty minutes ago."

Al nodded. "You missed a lot, you know."

Sango nodded. "Kagome told us some and Ed was filling us in on the rest."

Al bowed a little. "Sorry."

Sango waved her hand. "Don't worry about it; it's good to talk to you."

Ed looked at them and shrugged. "I'm gonna go see how Payne's doing from Winry. Later." He waved over his shoulder and walked away.

Al sighed. "There goes that idea of Brother helping. Whatever." He shrugged. "What do you know?"

Miroku shrugged. "Not much…"

Sango sighed. "Obviously…"

**I know, it sucks, but that's all I got to say. Happy Holidays, everybody! Happy B-day to me on Friday! I'll be 16!!!! AHHH! PERMIT TEST!!! (Starts studying like mad….plus, ices ears, I'm getting my ears pierced as a B-day present. Plus, a Shojo Beat subscription and Beckett subscription. Sweet!) I ….MUST…PASS! My sister passed, I don't see why I can't. Sigh Yo no se. Whatever. SALAAM!!!**


	24. Picture Perfect

**Disclaimer: Yo no own**

**There's a major storm at my place right now. When Sensei, My Sis, and I were dropping the Sensei off at her casa, we fish- tailed (the back to the car came forward from on of the sides), then, on the way back, the car spun, like, in circles on ice and we slammed into one of the gynormous snowdrifts that was taking over the road. We just stared straight forward on the way home with the four-wheel drive on the entire way home. Scary.**

**I have just gone through the five hour course with one of my sister's friends. The man was old…and he swore a lot. He was moderately amusing, but not enough to keep me laughing for 2 ½ hours for two days. Not even close. But his potty mouth reminded me of my hick grandpa! **

**Attention people! I have officially found my favorite quote! It is from Kowalski-sensei, mi major amiga and my newly adopted sister. "My Gay Uncle's A Postal Worker!" …Now tell me, isn't that great. We don't know if he's gay or not, but I think so, no straight man dresses like he does if he isn't being dared. Plus, 4 dogs, 2 cats. No. Oh and another "I Don't Know Why I Have 'Elton John' Written On That Page…?" TEEHEEHEE!**

**Bad News everyone, my family made me watch "Little House One the Prairie" after I watched about three hours of Trigun and bits of Spiderman, so my brain is mush. I'm probably going to do a tribute FF for Andrew (Mr. Thomas) in Chronicles of Narnia and possibly one for Trigun…and FLCL. If I remember. And Maybe "The Little House On the Prairie", just to piss my mum off.**

**ROBERT GOHLEY (sp) AWAY!**

Chapter Twenty Four

Picture Perfect

Mustang had been restless for two weeks, since the Elric's disappearance. Attempting to sleep seemed pointless, so he had given up all together. Riza had been slipping sedatives into his many cups of coffee, he was aware of this and he was pleased; he could get some sleep then. She didn't even bother him about sleeping or not doing paperwork anymore. Dandy. Now if only he could find them, his friends. As soon as Ed was found, he would tie him to a chair and keep him with him wherever he went. He knew Al would just follow.

You had to love the Elric boys; there was strong, dependable Edward and caring, sweet Alphonse. Both were intelligent and loyal and loving. Ed was sassy and Al was sympathetic. Both had the alchemical skill that could send a good percentage of the State Alchemists running and they were able to find solutions to any problem within minutes and they were perceptive. He loved them for every quality; Ed's stubbornness and Al's ability to wrench his heart out with his ability to empathize with all the suffering people he'd met on his journeys. Mustang was sick when he was informed that they were missing and now he hadn't recovered them, still, especially with more homunculi missing along with Winry. Her Grandmother was mad at the military and had threatened him with Winry's wrench that he had heard about Ed getting beaten with countless times. He had seen the scars, he had heard the stories; there was reason to fear the Rockbell women.

Mustang sat with his head in his hands. He had come to the conclusion that they **couldn't** be dead and there was reason to look into Xenotime. He had heard about the Elric boys being there for months, but his resources he had told him that they were there for about a week, no more. He had also heard that the mansion that the Elrics were studying at was broken into by imposter that had caused quite a stir. Ed hadn't mentioned any of this at his last stop. Besides, he knew Ed didn't like staying in Ritzy places, he thought it was too strict and good for him, he preferred run down dumps over many of the military hotels. He had told Hawkeye to look into the matter; he trusted her judgment, if she found something of interest, she would take care of it and see to it that any possible leads were fully searched.

Havoc came in with a worried face; he wasn't the type to show his emotions. "I've got news that might interest you, Chief. A civilian just called in saying that she saw a blond girl wander into a cul-de-sac and not come out."

Mustang looked at him like he was an idiot. "And?"

"She said that there was a flash of light and the girl screamed. The civilian went in to help and the dead end was void of people."

Mustang sat up. "Where was this?"

The directions Havoc gave him sucked and only further infuriated him. He had set them on fire about ten minutes after he left the headquarters. He would rather take his chances with wandering for aimless days then try to translate idiot into a normal tongue. He noticed the store that had been mentioned on Havoc's notes. He chose to venture into the alley. He turned only to be blinded by a celestial blue-white light.

**Feudal Japan**

Payne had been feeling well today, so she and everyone else had been sitting around the fire, just enjoying everyone's company. Winry sniffed and reached into her pocket for a tissue, smiled a little, and pulled out a picture. Ed turned to look at her.

"What are you looking at, Win?" He leaned closer to her to try and see.

She smiled and showed him. "It's a picture of you and Al from when you guys were little."

Al, Kagome, Shippo, Sango, and Miroku all crowed around Winry and Ed to see the picture. Kagome smiled. "Aw! You guys were **so** cute!" Inuyasha stood up and meandered over to see. The picture revealed a smiling Ed and Al, both fully human. Ed was holding up a fish and Al was laughing at his brother's inflated pride. When Inuyasha looked closer, he could see Ed's mother's reflection in his eyes, though he was the only one could see, for he knew that Shippo wouldn't notice and he knew the human's probably couldn't see it.

Al laughed. "I remember that summer! That was right before you and I fought and I threw you into the river where we caught the fish!"

Ed smiled. "Then Mom scolded me for leaving you behind when I came back home. Then she had you apologize to me, it was a riot."

Al nodded. "…Especially considering the fact that we fought again after she went to the market."

Winry smiled. "I remember that! Al ran to my house upset and Granny had to keep you there until you calmed down! Then Ed came and refused to talk to us!"

Ed laughed. "I didn't want to have to admit that I was wrong."

Winry and Ed walked over to the river to get water. The picture had lifted everyone's mood, but made Winry remember about Granny. Ed had conned her into going with him. They held hands the entire way there, playing little games by squeezing back and forth. Winry smiled at Ed, "Thank you for taking me out for a walk, Edward."

He looked at her and smiled in response. "It's no big deal, Winry, you know that. I just wanna make you happy."

She nodded. "Right…just, thank you."

He sighed. "No problem."

They had been enjoying the quiet when Ed got a spooky feeling. "Winry, stay close," He whispered.

She looked at him quite surprised. "Hmm…Ed, what's wrong?"

Ed looked around and grabbed Winry's hand pulling her in the opposite direction from camp.

"Ed! What's going on?!" She stumbled and fell on her stomach.

He helped her up, not noticing the paper she dropped as he pulled her along. "Winry, we gotta hurry! I can't exactly tell you what's happening and I'm sorry. But someone is chasing us and that should be enough of an incentive to get you to run!"

She nodded and ran along side Ed so he wasn't pulling her.

Envy picked up what Winry dropped and smiled. "This should rock their world." He looked at what he held in this hand and transformed. When he was done, he dropped the paper and walked away. It landed face up. The picture of Ed and Al started to get wet as the rain fell, making it look like Al was crying.

They did a loop in the forest and made their way back to camp very out of breath, everyone stood.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

Ed panted out one word that scared everyone. "H…Homunculi..."

Payne and Fumi looked to Al, lost and scared, "What are homunculi?"

"…Our enemies." Inuyasha grabbed the hilt of his blade and faced the direction that Ed and Winry had come from. He turned to Kagome, Sango, and Winry. "You guys get Payne and Fumi outta' here, now! Don't come back; just go to Kaede's village."

Kagome nodded. "You guys be careful though."

Ed smiled. "We're always careful it's just our attention to detail that causes our injuries."

Winry looked at him seriously. "You'll be okay, won't you?"

Ed smirked. "Same as always."

She sighed. "That's not saying much. You keep your Brother safe. You too, Al! Be careful everyone!" She hopped on Kagome's bike as Fumi and Payne climbed onto Kirara with Sango.

Inuyasha braced himself for what was going to come from the woods, when a nail shot out, pinning Al to a tree and the saimyosho seemed to pour out of the woods. About fifty demons emerged the same time as Lust, Naraku, Sloth, and Gluttony, but there was someone else; Inuyasha could see the outline of a short-ish person, possibly a young boy.

Ed ran over to help Al when someone calling out to him stopped him.

"Brother!" The voice sounded pure, not metallic like Al's. He turned to see the face of his brother, one he hadn't seen in _years_. The boy smiled and repeated the word quieter. "Brother."

Ed faltered. He knew that wasn't Al, he knew it was Envy, but he couldn't seem to accept that. Al seemed to notice this and called out to him. "Ed, brother…"

Miroku fought off the demons with Inuyasha and turned to speak with him. "Did that boy just say 'Brother'…?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, but who the hell is he?", not getting a very good look at him.

The boy ran forward and attacked Ed, Ed just backed up to avoid the punches and kicks. Ed closed his eyes and threw a punch, but the boy grabbed his arms and pulled him close and smiled malevolently. "You wouldn't hit your _Brother_, would you, Brother?" He kneed Ed in the stomach and pushed him on the ground. Ed got up and transmuted his arm into a blade and looked away. The boy laughed. "Please don't hurt me, Brother, please…?" He laughed again. Ed swung the blade like an amateur. "Like you could hit me fighting like that."

Al shook his head. "You know that's not me, Brother, fight for real!"

Ed shook his head. "I can't…I can't kill your face, Al."

Inuyasha growled and unleashed a Windscar and ran over to help Ed, but was stopped by Naraku. "Dammit, must you screw with everyone!?"

Naraku laughed. "You misunderstand, half-breed. I'm not screwing with you, I'm playing a game, it's not my fault that you don't know the rules."

Miroku tried to run over while Naraku was distracted, but Gluttony came in front of him. Miroku smiled. "I don't anymore, this is just, plain annoying." He opened his palm and drew him in, along with three poison wasps. He ran over to Lust and cut her back with his staff.

She pulled her hand out of Al and attacked Miroku, who seemed to be feeling the affects of the venom he had ingested. Al drew an array and stopped Lust. Inuyasha unleashed another Windscar, killing the golem. Everyone turned to see Ed on the ground, the boy standing above him with his arm shaped like a blade, pointed at Ed. He drew his arm back as Al screamed for his brother. But, one noise rang out above all the others: a snap…

**Review…..please…I know it took me a long time, but it's pretty good, right…please. PLEASE!**


	25. So Tired

**Non-stick frying pans, zucchini, Russian Chocolates, flashlights, broken pens, mute swans, dead mice, and the CIA. What do these things have to do with eachother, you ask? Well, then, you all must have never had a day like I have. Try and find out what these things have to do with eachother. If anyone gets it right, I'll write whatever you want, as long as it's not yaoi or citrus-y. Plus, I might type out my story that is taking up 141 sheets of loose-leaf…so far. -.-**

**I never mentioned this, but this is after Hughes gets killed. That's it.**

**You know, if you think about it…Kikyo is kinda like a pot…a clay pot. And all the Inuyasha characters are pessimists until one person says something optimistic…then they're raging optimists. That's annoying and they always point out the obvious. WHEE! **

**You know that commercial about the nicotine patches and stuff like that? With the little black creatures? My dad says that that is my commercial, that I am those little black things when they're freaking out. I don't know how I feel about that. For those of you have never talked with, me through email or other, that should give you a good idea of how I am. Nice and crazy. And cynical…fundamentally.**

**Disclaimer: Poo-ding? .**

Chapter Twenty Five

So Tired

Inuyasha leapt in front of Ed, Al, and Miroku, facing the direction where the fire and snap had come from. Through the smoke, a man emerged. He was tall and had dark hair and eyes. He was wearing a blue uniform of some type, Inuyasha wasn't familiar with it, it didn't look like the ones the 'poll-ice' wear from Kagome's time, but it had a certain likeness. The man lifted his hand in front of his face. "Who are you?" His voice was deep and Inuyasha could tell he was trying to be threatening.

Inuyasha scoffed. "That's a hell of a question to ask! We're here fighting and you come out of nowhere! What's wrong with you?!" Inuyasha held his blade in front of him. "Don't piss me off, sparky, or I'll cut you in half!"

"General…" Inuyasha looked back to see Al walking toward him and the man. Inuyasha looked back at the man to see him smiling in recognition. He turned back and saw Ed stand on wobbly feet. Ed looked at the man, who Inuyasha turned to face. The man glared and crouched down and drew something, he touched the drawing gingerly. Inuyasha turned back to see Ed being enveloped by ropes that sprouted from the ground. Inuyasha looked back at the man to see him glare, but the man's eyes showed pure rage and he started to walk quickly towards Ed, Yelling.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?! I HAVE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER THE GODDAMN COUNTRY TO FIND YOUR SORRY ASS! I HAD AGENTS GO OVER TO XING, DRACHMA, AND AERUGO IN SECRET TO SEE IF THEY COULD FIND YOU THERE!!! I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS THEN MAKE SURE YOU NEVER LEAVE CENTRAL! YOU REMEMBER HOW BAD IT WAS TO HAVE BROSH AND ROSS FOLLOW YOU? WELL, IT JUST GOT WORSE!!! DON'T JUST SIT THERE! SAY SOMETHING!!!!!" He was panting and glaring at Ed.

Ed looked at the man and managed a weak smile. "Nice to see you, Roy." The man swung his fist, hitting Ed square in the jaw and causing him to fall. "THAT'S A HELL OF A GREETING!"

Roy smirked. "You little bastard, you're mad at me when you've been missing for two GODDAMN WEEKS!!!" His voice grew louder and he turned to Al. "Your brother's a frickin' idiot! Why didn't you try to get him to come back to Armestris?"

Al squeaked. "I-I tried, General Mustang, I really did, so did Brother! But, we couldn't get back, so we're still working on it."

Roy turned to Inuyasha and the comatose Miroku, who everyone seemed to be forgetting, and turned back to Ed. "Who the hell are these guys?"

Ed sighed. "Our captors…" Inuyasha growled and Ed laughed. "No, no, no. They're Inuyasha and Miroku, they're friends."

Roy turned to Inuyasha and the passed out lecher. "What's wrong with that guy?"

Ed looked at him. "SHIT!"

Inuyasha picked him up and put him onto his back. "We gotta get to Kaede's village; Miroku got infected by saimyosho poison."

Roy looked confused. "Sah ma o shi?"

"SAIMYOSHO! THEY'RE THOSE BEE/WASP THINGS! Whatever, we gotta go; he's already got a fever."

Ed nodded. "Right, let's run!" Roy looked depressed by that. "What's wrong, Princess? Too much work?" He got a closer look at him, seeing the dark circles that seemed to be weighing down his eyes.

Roy smiled. "I…I'm ready, let's go."

Ed looked to Al, who nodded and picked Roy up and started running behind Inuyasha, with Ed following. Roy fought him off initially, but soon stopped and went into a trance-like state, which was probably caused by lack of sleep. Ed noticed this, but stayed quiet and focused on keeping up and blocking the recent incident. He didn't want to remember Al's face like that, only good things that his _brother_ did. He was still freaked out, but that didn't really matter. At that currently mattered was the health of his friends, his health could wait.

Sango sat outside, leaning on the hut. She was waiting. She refused to go inside with the others, she didn't want to rest until she knew that Miroku was okay…and it would be good to know that Al, Ed, and Inuyasha were okay, too. But, her principle concern rested with the monk and his health. He was hers. She stood when she saw shadows coming toward her; there were three….only three. She ran toward the edge of the forest and let out a whimper when she saw Inuyasha carrying the monk. Inuyasha didn't stop at her side; he went straight to the hut to get some medicine for his wounded companion. Ed and Al stopped, but the man that was slung over Al's shoulder concerned her. They couldn't care for another wounded man, they already had too many hindrances as it was, but she would never dream of voicing this concern, it was cold and …tempestuous. She looked to Ed, in a panic, but he smiled sweetly.

"Miroku will be fine…" He bent his head to catch her gaze.

She choked back a sob and looked toward the hut, which was full of people talking in hushed, urgent tones. "What…what happened to him?"

"He sucked up some saimyosho." He looked toward the hut and then back at her, just to see her nod weakly and let her head sink, so she only faced the ground.

Al came up and put his hand on her shoulder, having abandoned Roy next to a tree. "He'll be okay, Sango, I know he will." She nodded a little and then started to cry. Ed looked over to see Roy attempting to stand, then falling and cussing, making it hard for him not to laugh, instead he just sweat-dropped and looked back to Sango and smiled. Al held out his hand and spoke sweetly. "Come on, Sango, let's go inside and wait until he wakes up. I'm sure Kagome wants to talk to you." She nodded and Al led her inside while Ed walked over to Roy and helped him stand.

"If you keep falling all over the place like that, people will think you're a lush." He smiled at Roy.

Roy scoffed and looked at the hut. "That girl loves the monk, I take it."

Ed nodded. "And there's another girl in there, but she loves Inuyasha. Winry's in there along with two more girls and two demons and an old woman."

Roy looked at Ed, who just scratched his head. "That's quite a posse you've got going on there. The demons…what are they? What do they look like?"

"One looks like a cat, almost, and the other looks like a chimera of a fox and boy…it's interesting, to say the least. Also, incase you have some questions later when your observation skills increase, Inuyasha and Payne, one of the girls, she has red hair, are half-demons. Inuyasha has dog ears," He held his hands up to his head and waved them near where Inuyasha's would be, not moving his wrist from his real ears, " and Payne has pointed ears." He grabbed the tops of his ears. He brought his hands down and looked at Roy seriously. "All are very good companions, I have no complaints. They have helped us, protected us and traveled with us."

Roy looked at him seriously. "Where are their parents?"

Ed turned toward the hut. "Let's go, they'll get worried if we stay out here." He started walking toward the hut without waiting for Roy.

"Hey! Wait! You didn't answer my question!" He walked into the hut, but quieted when he realized all eyes were on him. He waved and smiled. "Uh…hi…?"

Kagome stood and bowed a little and Inuyasha grabbed her hand and pulled her down. "Don't bow, you idiot!"

She pulled her hand away and yelled. "Don't be rude, Inuyasha! SIT!" His face slammed into the ground, which caused the little fox-boy thingy to start dancing on his head, which caused Inuyasha to grab him by the foot and shake him up and down in the air. When the little thing started to cry for help, Kagome looked at him and sighed. "You kind of deserve it, Shippo; I mean you did dance on his head."

Inuyasha laughed. "Yeah, brat, don't be an idiot if you can't accept the consequences of your stupidity!"

"And Inuyasha, you're abusing your power over him!" He gulped and dropped the demon, causing him to fall on his head. "OOH! Shippo are you okay?"

Shippo started to rub his head violently. "Inuyasha, you jerk!"

Roy just stared at them in utter amazement of their immaturity. Ed laughed uncomfortably from his spot next to Winry. Roy noticed that they were holding hands and he smiled. Ed noticed his stare and let go of Winry's hand and crossed his arms, blushing. This caused Roy to laugh and Winry to get pissed. She stood and went to go sit next to Alphonse, to which Ed looked at her pleadingly and then glared at Roy, causing him to laugh even harder. But, all laughs stopped when Miroku groaned. Everyone turned to him. He was sweating and his face was contorted in pain. Sango grabbed his hand and squeezed it and started to coo into his ear.

Kagome stood and went to her bag. "There's gotta be something else I can give him!" she jumped up in victory, having found some aspirin for the pain that wouldn't conflict with the poison antidotes that she gave him. "Here," she said crouching down next to Sango, presenting two white pills, "give him these; they should help with the pain and the Benadryl I gave him."

Sango turned to her and smiled. "Thank you, Kagome."

Kagome smiled. "No problem."

Payne walked over to Kagome and looked at the bottle. "Is that the stuff you gave me?"

Kagome nodded. "Yes, they're called aspirin, well, these are Tylenol, but that's just the brand name. But, they help with pain."

Inuyasha stood up and yelled. "YOU'VE NEVER GIVEN ME THOSE!"

Kagome smiled and turned to him. "That is because you are a half demon…and you are annoying."

"You're so cruel! Everyone thinks you're soo nice, but that's just an act and I knew it all along, but you would lie and say that I'm mean."

"You are mean, I am nice, and I don't lie."

"See, that right there is a lie! You lie to your idiot friends from your school! They think you're sick all the time, when in reality you are rarely ever sick! …I'M NOT MEAN!"

"But you are slow…"

"SHUT UP, SHIPPO!"

"Inuyasha, you hate taking pills, I can't force you, you're stronger than I am and all that would do is make you mad. All you ever let me do when you're injured is bandage your wounds, nothing else; do you think I want to make you suffer?" Her voice sounded hurt at the end, causing Inuyasha to falter.

"Don't-Don't mess with my head!" He pointed at her and twitched a little.

Kagome looked at him seriously. "I know you too well for you to play these games with me and win, so don't even bother. You will lose."

Inuyasha sighed and sat back down. "Whatever."

Kagome looked at Roy and stood. She held out her hand stiffly. "Hi…um… I'm Kagome Higurashi. These are Sango, Miroku, Kaede, Shippo, Inuyasha, Kirara, Fumi, and Payne." She pointed at everyone as she introduced them but seemed a little distracted by his uniform. "You're a General?"

Roy nodded. "General Roy Mustang, Flame Alchemist, at your service."

Ed muttered. "He speaks it so arrogantly. He **had** to say his rank and title."

"Shut up, Fullmetal! I'll turn you into charcoal!"

Ed jumped up and danced in front of him, transmuting his arm into a blade. "Let's see you try, you damn pyro! Let's finish what we started at my last assessment! But, this time the Fuhrer won't be here to save your dumbass!"

Al jumped up and held Edward back. "Brother! The General hasn't even been here an hour and you're already fighting with him! Shame! And look at him; he's tired and that's obvious, be nice!"

Ed turned around and glared at him. "Why is it you never side with me?"

"I do so, it just so happens that I sided with you during the fight against the homunculi about an hour ago!"

"That doesn't count, that's against **our** enemies, I mean against **my** enemies!"

"Why am I your enemy?" Roy feigned emotional pain, grabbed his chest and spoke with a whine.

"Brother, that's stupid, General Mustang is not your enemy, he had helped us too many times for him to be your enemy!"

"Shut up, that's an act and I know it! Roy Mustang, you are a bureaucratic bastard with a god complex and nothing you do can show me otherwise. Didn't Hughes tell you I said that?!"

Roy looked away when Ed mentioned Hughes. He still didn't know and Roy didn't want to tell him. "Yeah, he did." His tone was quiet, and Al seemed to take notice of this.

"Sir, is something wrong? Did something happen to Lieutenant Colonel Hughes?!" Al stood close to Roy.

Roy looked at him and averted his gaze. "Um…no, he's just out of the military now and he took Gracia and Elicia out of the city and into the country, I just haven't seen him in some time."

Ed looked at Roy's face, he knew he was lying, but he didn't know why. "Fine, we'll further discuss this later." He smiled a little. "We need to set everything up so Roy here can crash…he looks like crap."

Roy glared. "Thanks, Ed." Ed shrugged and he sighed. He and Roy started firing insults at one another as they sat down near Al and Kagome.

Inuyasha stood and walked toward the door, causing Kagome to stand and call after him "Where are you going?!"

Inuyasha turned and looked at her seriously. "I'm going to either find or build another hut, there's nowhere near enough room in here for all of us, because we seem to keep collecting more people. Besides, the hag never said we all could stay here. I know that there are some friends of mine that will allow us to board in their shed…or I could steal Miroku's money and get a room at the inn. Either way…I'm gonna go look." He walked out nonchalantly; causing everyone to sweat-drop, save for Miroku, the comatose wonder, and Roy, who had fallen asleep after he and Ed had finished their insult battle.

Kagome looked at Roy and got a blanket from her bag, to which Ed snatched it and threw it back at her. "Don't be nice to him!"

Kagome put it back on him and glared at him. "Edward, you touch this blanket again and I'll make you cry." The sweetness of her words and the calmness of her demeanor scared the life out of Ed.

He paled and looked at Al. "Did that scare you, too, or was it just me?" Al seemed to be shuddering, but he answered by just nodding. Ed nodded. "I knew it…religious figures are creepy."

Kagome faltered. "I'm not a religious figure, Ed."

"I thought you said you were a priestess? Aren't you?"

She blushed. "I am, but I'm not like…an icon or anything…I've only had people pray to me like four times."

"WHAT?! That's freakish! Doesn't that strike you as a bit odd?"

She shrugged and sighed. "I never asked them to, they just did it on their own. It's not like I'm Kikyo or anything."

"Yeah, about her, when are we gonna meet her?"

Kagome glared at the floor. "I hope she doesn't come around until everyone is healed. She causes too much trouble."

Sango stood and rubbed Kagome's back. "Its okay, Kagome. I think Inuyasha knows how you feel and you acted very mature last time."

Kagome sighed and her face was obviously upset, but then she smiled. "I have to go help Inuyasha." She stood and left quickly.

Shippo looked after her. "Poor Kagome. It would help if Inuyasha wasn't so clueless. We all know that they care for eachother. Kagome is loyal to him, it would be nice if he showed her with the same respect and do the same for her."

Ed looked toward the door and sighed. "So, are they the same age?"

Sango shook her head. "Kagome's sixteen and Kikyo is in the body of a nineteen year old. But, I can see why Inuyasha loves her; she's distant, cold, enigmatic, and she-"

"-Was Inuyasha's first love." Everyone turned to see Miroku sitting, propped up by his left arm.

Sango ran over and smothered him in a hug, then realized what she was doing, just as Miroku grabbed her ass. "PERVERT! Why do you have to ruin something as pure as a hug? AND, why did you get hurt? I told you not to!"

Miroku smiled weakly. "I didn't get hurt, I just got poisoned, there's a… who is that?" He asked, pointing at Roy, who was unaffected by the commotion.

Ed looked apologetic. "Sorry, he's a friend of mine. He was the one that saved us from…from Envy." Ed looked to the ground by the end of the sentence, and then looked at Winry. "You lost your photo, huh?"

She groped her pockets, then freaked. "Oh no! That was the only copy I had! Aw, man." Ed smiled and pulled out a piece of paper out of his pocket. He closed his eyes in concentration, trying to remember the exact details and clapped, touching the paper lightly. The sparks died down, revealing an exact replica of the photo. He handed it to her and smiled. She smiled and took it. "Thank you, Edward."

Miroku looked around and tensed. "We have to get Inuyasha and Kagome." Everyone looked at him in concern. "I sense Kikyo's soul skimmers."


	26. Hell Hath Not Fury

**I don't even know if I posted my last chapter yet…guess I should look into that. Anyways, I sitting here eating sour Jelly Belly beans (which I highly recommend) listening to Dir en Grey (which I also recommend) typing on my new vista computer (you get the idea). HERE I AM! SPOILED GIRL!!! BOW TO ME!!!!**

**Disclaimer-**** Did you know that more people die annually by donkeys than they do airplane crashes? When did those ugly things get so damn violent?**

**Is it just me…or does this look like a face **ci.i)

**The whole time I was typing this, every time I tried to type 'you' it came out 'toy'….how funny would it be if I didn't catch this every time I typed you?**

**EVERYONE!!! BOW TO P.MCTULLY!!!! She's awesome, and she keeps mentioning me (LOVE!!!) and she's a gifted writer and she's funny. GO READ SOME OF HER STORIES, DAMMIT!!!!**

Chapter twenty Six (…wow…I'm really getting up there, huh?)

Hell Hath No Fury…

Payne looked at Miroku oddly. "…'Soul skimmers…'?"

He nodded and looked at her seriously. "Yes, have you heard of them?" She shook her head and he continued. "They look like a cross between a bug and a fish, almost. They fly through the air and they collect the spirits of dead young women." **(A/n: mock me if you want I think those things look like a mix between fish and a bug. I really didn't know how else to describe them….-.-')**

She nodded. "I've seen them skimming around the woods at night. They're bizarre, to say the least."

Fumi shuddered. "Yeah, they're creepy."

Payne looked at her questioningly. "When did you see them?"

"When I was following you in the woods." **(A/N: Now I'm eating an orange…mmmm…orange-y)**

"Of course,..." She looked toward the door. "…stalker…" Fumi jumped at her and they started fighting.

Miroku sweat dropped and whistled to get their attention. "Not that I'm not enjoying you two beat the tar out of each other, we have to inform Inuyasha and Kagome that Kikyo is near." He tried to stand, only to have Sango push him down and stand herself.

She motioned to Winry, who also stood. "We're going to tell Kagome about what's going on. There's a good chance that if you can sense Kikyo that Inuyasha has already smelt her scent and is off following her." She started walking out the door with Winry following closely.

"Sango…" She turned to see Miroku looking at her seriously. "Be careful, you know how she is." Sango nodded then smiled.

"Why did he say that?" Winry turned to face Sango after they had be walking around, looking about in a cursory fashion. "Is Kikyo really that dangerous?"

Sango nodded. "Yeah, priestesses are almost unearthly with their range of power. That's why Kagome usually doesn't fight. She saves her power. But Kikyo has had her power longer and she knows how to use it. And she does. She's …evil." Sango turned to see Inuyasha. He seemed to have his nose in the air, attracted by a scent. "Inuyasha…" He turned to look at her. He seemed to be angry that she distracted him, but once he saw her he calmed. "Where's Kagome?"

"Isn't she with you?"

"No, she went off to help you…what are you doing?"

He blushed and looked toward the forest. "I thought I… smelled something…"

Sango sighed and looked at the ground. "You did." Inuyasha turned to face her, looking odd for his personality. "Kikyo is near. Um…we…need to find her and Kagome."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll go look for them." He turned and ran off in to the forest, where there seemed to be an unearthly glow.

Sango sighed and followed after him. "Wait!" Winry started after Sango, "Why are we following? He said he'd find them. Why do we have to follow?"

Sango scoffed and glared at Inuyasha, who could barely be seen running ahead of them. "He'll either go to Kikyo right away, or drag Kagome back here and then go to her."

"That's Terrible!"

"That's Inuyasha. He has no sense when it comes to love. It is beyond me how someone could have lived as long as he has and still be so clueless when it comes to love. I seriously don't understand his train of thought when it comes to situations like this. He really doesn't understand why Kagome gets as upset as she does when he does these visits to Kikyo. I real…ly-" Before them stood Kikyo and Inuyasha. Sango tilted her head and noticed something that Inuyasha seemed to have missed, Kagome, laying not five feet from Kikyo, covered in some sort of silk, and seemingly unconscious. Sango didn't have time formalities when it came to her friends, she charged forward, destroying Kikyo and Inuyasha's moment of affection, and ran to Kagome's side.

"Sango, what're you doing here?" Inuyasha managed to stammer out before he saw her lift a silk, revealing an unconscious Kagome. "Kagome?" He turned to Kikyo and looked at her crossly. "Kikyo, why is Kagome here? What happened to Kagome!?" Kikyo shied away from his glance in her stolid fashion, infuriating Inuyasha. He growled and got into her face. "Kikyo, tell me what happened to Kagome!!!"

She smiled and looked at Inuyasha evilly. "Wouldn't you like to know what happened to your _precious_ Kagome. From what I hear you were asking what happened to me in such a fashion a few weeks ago after I had battled with that Damn Naraku. You really should pick your love interest, my _sweet_ Inuyasha." Her words stung him like a cold wind. She laughed maniacally at his surprised expression. "Oh I would never say something like this," she said in a mock-tormented tone, "…it's got to be all the things that Naraku has done to me. I never should have join forces with him." She laughed again at his expression when it turned to that of sheer shock. "Oh, that's right, you weren't completely sure that I had done that, were you? Well, now I guess you are. You foolish dog, as if _I_ would choose you as my love. You are but a half-breed and I have already surrendered my heart to your _claws_. You must think me a fool to have thought that I would give my heart to you again, _beast_." Inuyasha looked to the ground like a scolded child and the look on his face made Kikyo laugh all the more.

The scene before her pissed her off, so, Winry walked up and pushed Kikyo back from Inuyasha. She stood in front of the shocked Hanyou and glared at Kikyo. Kikyo snapped at her like a rabid dog, "Do you know who you are messing with, girly?!"

Winry smiled wickedly, keeping her eyes in a glare. "I don't give a **damn** who you are. To me, you seem to be a princess who has not yet been knocked off her pedestal. You feel that others are beneath you and that you are better than others."

Kikyo smirked and tossed her hair, very uncharacteristically. "I **AM** better than others, and I'm going to show you this." Purple dust seemed to waft out on the breeze that the movement of her hair had created. **(LIKE DANDRUFF!!!! SOMEBODY GET THAT GIRL SOME 'HEAD AND SHOULDERS!!')** "You need to learn to mind your business. I'm such a generous person that I'm willing to teach you." Sango came forward and blew some white powder in her face. Kikyo snarled and took a step back. "What is this stuff?"

Sango smiled at her reaction. "It burns, doesn't it?"This struck Inuyasha out of his trance, but he still remained still and silent. "I remembered something that my father had once taught me. With certain herbs found in surplus all over this area, a golem and a soul-harboring _dummy_ can be made to run in fear." Kikyo kept wiping at her face, which was becoming redden with blotchy rashes, causing Winry and Inuyasha to gain more interest than before. "I have made plenty of this, so if you feel it necessary to remain in the area and pursue us in this _unreasonable_ fashion, I'll be here, waiting for you. I don't have the patience or the time to deal with a clay pot, much like yourself."

Kikyo's face contorted into an infuriated glare. "Have it your way, but don't even think of writing me off as something that is innocuous, because as soon as lose the idea that I'm a threat, I'll teach you not to belittle my reputation." She stepped back a couple paces and leaned on her soul collectors. "Until that day, I'll be watching you. Remember me, my _sweet_ Inuyasha." They carried her off, leaving the group in silence…until…

"MAN!!!! What a bitch!" Winry stomped her heal and growled in frustration. She turned to Inuyasha. "Now, why do you like her again?"

Inuyasha looked to the ground and muttered quietly, "She's never been like that before."

"I DOUBT IT! She seems like a bitch and you should regard her as such!" Winry turned to Sango, who was in a crouching position next to Kagome. "How is she?"

Sango frowned. "Um, she's unconscious….to tell you the truth, I'm very well versed in medical aliments, that's Kagome's forte, not mine. She has a bump on her head, which basically means she got hit…hard, and other than that I don't see anything wrong with her." She turned to Inuyasha and glared. "You didn't happen to notice her?"

Inuyasha looked embarrassed and looked at Kagome. "I couldn't see her until you uncovered her."

Winry crouched next to Sango. "Here let me take a look, I don't much about medicine, but I know enough about simple injuries." She Checked Kagome's joints, making sure nothing was broken, finding a sprained ankle (probably from tripping, Winry deduced from the mud on her knees and palms), which she promptly wrapped in shreds of the cloak that had once concealed her, and turned to Inuyasha. "You are going to carry her." She barked at him impatiently.

Inuyasha frowned and crossed his arms. "I had every intention to, you didn't need to tell me."

"Good." Winry stood and looked at Sango. "So, she's going to stay away for some time, I take it?"

Sango nodded. "If she has a brain in her clay head, but don't worry, even if she comes back, I'm prepared. I have enough of this for an army. It only takes a pinch of this to keep her away." Sango glanced at Kagome again. "Other than her ankle, is there anything else wrong with her?"

"Like you said, she got hit in the head with something, which may or may not be the reason she fell, but I still think she tripped, I mean, it's Kagome."

"Wow…" the voice was weak, "It's good to hear what people think of me when they think I'm not awake." Kagome opened one eye, forcefully it seemed.

Everyone gathered around her with a yell of "KAGOME!"

Kagome wince at the loud outburst and smiled weakly.

Winry blushed. "I'm sorry we yelled, are you okay?"

Kagome nodded. "Where's Kikyo?"

Inuyasha blushed and Winry glared at him. Sango smiled at her peacefully. "Don't worry, she's gone, she probably won't be bothering us for quite some time."

Kagome looked at her curiously. "Why do you say that?"

"I…remembered the ingredients to a powder that reflects her kind."

"Shame." Everyone looked at Kagome as she continued. "She was talking to someone, I don't know who, but she was talking to them about Naraku. I must have made too much noise and she became aware of my presence. I tried running and…" she blushed, "I tripped." Winry did a little 'Yes! I was right!' and thrust her hand in the air in victory, causing Kagome to blush, but she tried (**TRIED**) to ignore her and she continued. "When I fell, she hit me with something, I don't remember what, and I got knocked out."

Inuyasha blushed and looked away. "I'm sorry, Kagome."

She waved her hands in front of her and blushed, all the while, smiling. "No, no. I'm fine really."

Inuyasha shook his head and picked her up and walked a ways away. Sango and Winry sighed and went back to camp (…or so it seemed…heeheehee…). Inuyasha sat down on a log, still holding Kagome. "I mean for acting so weird."

Kagome looked at him perplexedly. "Inuyasha…"

"I should treat you the same as you treat me, with love and affection, but I always reserved those feelings for Kikyo, which was obviously a bad idea, and I have always acted untruthfully towards you, which is really unfair to you. I just want you to know that I'm sorry you got hurt, that I wasn't there to protect you, and that I never treated you how you deserved to be treated."

"Inuyasha…"

"I just wanted you to know that I'm going to try very hard to change all that and always be there for you. I want to be the man you deserve and one that you're proud of."

"AWWW!!!!" Inuyasha and Kagome sweat-dropped. Inuyasha turned around (DOWNWIND!!) to see Sango punching Winry in the arm and Winry giggling like a school girl. "I'm sorry, it was just so CUTE!!!"

Inuyasha growled and Kagome tugged on his Haori. He turned to look at her to see her blushing slightly. "Whether or not you choose to believe it, I am proud of you. I love you and no matter what you do, my feelings won't change." She kissed him and heard the cheers of Winry and Sango yelling at her to be quiet. Kagome and Inuyasha smiled into each other's lips.


	27. I'm Not Okay

**Hello!!!! Yeah… I'm bored. I'm writing this during my week off. More like the last day of my week off. DEPRESSING!!!TT.TT….Oh well…I like weekends just fine. But I do wish it would stop snowing. That's not so handy. All I want is to work. I need money so I don't have to steal books. Sigh. **

**I won't be able to update at all because Fanfiction can't adapt quick enough. It's not compatible with a vista. saddness**

**Disclaimer:**** I forgot to mention that I don't actually own the title of the last chapter. It's the beginning of that old quote. And the name of Ashley, Page, Eli, and Hazel's band from Degrassi. Yeah I know. Pathetic, right? But that's really the only teen show I watch. But I don't even watch that now. I pretty much hate Television. I like the computer and books. After my favorite animes ended, it serves no purpose except to show me the news, comedians, DVDs, and to spin in circles in the air demonically. My home life is pretty interesting, don't you think?**

Chapter Twenty Seven  
I'm Not Okay

Hawkeye felt sick. She wasn't sure if this registered as an attack against the military or not considered both state alchemists and civilians and alike were missing. She just wished she was more unfamiliar all of the victims than she was. Every victim she knew. She had been given control of Mustang's jurisdiction until a replacement could be sent out, which could be weeks. She hoped that everyone would be found before then.

"Ma'am?" Riza turned to find Havoc knocking cautiously on the door with his head poking in. "Are you okay, Riza?"

She smiled. He could be court marshaled for such flippant speech towards a superior officer; it was the same as insubordination. She took a deep breath and smiled sadly. "Yes, Lieutenant, I am fine."

"Then, why aren't acting like it?" He walked into Mustang's office and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's okay to act how you feel, Riza."

She shook her head and looked out the window once again. "No, I have to keep a strong front. What would everyone think if the person in charge turned into a blubbering fool? I don't have the luxury to find out."

Havoc turned her to face him. "I'm not anyone you have to worry about ratting you out. It's okay to be yourself in front of me. I know I feel the same. We all do. We all are as worried as you are. Both Breda and Fuery went home early. I couldn't let them lose their composure in front of everyone. I couldn't do that to them, so I authorized their early dismissal. I do hope that's okay."

Riza sighed. "It's fine, Jean, you know it is."

"We're the only ones still in the building, considering Falman is still on sick leave to tend to his mother. It's okay to let out your emotions to me, not only am I your subordinate; I am also your friend."

She took a deep breath, shaking as she did so. "I…scared, Jean." She turned to face him, tears pricking her eyes. "I don't want to lose him. I…I love him, Jean, I don't want him to be gone."

Havoc gathered her in his arms and held her tight. "I know you do, but we're going to find him." It almost seemed to Riza that he was trying to convince himself, along with her.

Riza nodded halfheartedly. "I know, but what if we don't? I don't want to be alone! I…I didn't even get the chance to be with him, I can't give him up now!"

"Then don't lose hope." She looked at him and he smiled. "Don't give up your dream." He added a bit of mocking to his tone and smiled foolishly. "_Don't let him get away this easy!_"

She nodded and squeezed him tight. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

He released her and saluted superficially. "As always, Ma'am." He turned on his heal and left.

**I know this was short and seemed Riza/Havoc, but it wasn't. He was comforting her. Thant's it. They're friends….that's all. This was shorter than chapters four and seven. I don't know whether or not I should draw Hawkeye in or not…I'll leave it up to you guys. Give me your opinions, I want them. I need them. Oh Baby, Oh Baby…**


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